


The Power of Laughter (2011)

by HexalianRebel_FeatheredPanda



Series: The Power of Laughter [1]
Category: Original Work, The Power of Laughter
Genre: Gen, Tickling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-23
Updated: 2013-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:21:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 33
Words: 56,887
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23766832
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HexalianRebel_FeatheredPanda/pseuds/HexalianRebel_FeatheredPanda
Summary: Hexalia, the planet where the best medicine is the deadliest; the inhabitants of this planet are physically identical to human beings. They constantly wear gloves, and the colors of their eyes can determine their kind. They are gifted with supernatural powers that they use to achieve their goal, taking over the human world through tickle torture. However, the humans have protection. A small group known as the Believers are born with a gene that grants them the powers to combat with Hexalians; If only they weren't so small...
Series: The Power of Laughter [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1864186





	1. Prologue: Hexalia Minor- A Planet of Mystery and Laughter

**Author's Note:**

> Panda's Notes: Long ago, in the before-time, I actually did write a novel. In high school. Middle school, technically, was when I first wrote these characters. This is actually the third time I wrote this book, as the first two are lost in notebooks that apparated into the Ether. 
> 
> The good news is that this version has an ending.
> 
> The bad news is that it's sequel bait.
> 
> The worse news is that not only did I never finish that sequel, but I also rebooted the series a fourth time before sinking into the mire of Writers' Block.
> 
> ...Until now!
> 
> Happy 2020, kids, where hindsight never looked so good. So, in honor of my suddenly getting new ideas for what will technically be the sixth version of this story--and my impatience, since I considered waiting until the actual ten-year anniversary of posting this to deviantArt--allow me to assault you with a tale from my roots. (Posted 4-21-2020)

He sat on the grassy hill outside the building, a red brick structure incomparable in size. His crimson red eyes sparkled behind his brown glasses as he watched the twinkling stars and rolling hills under the light of the two moons. The many rockets taking off and landing in the distance always made him feel curious about other parts of the galaxy, places where he hadn’t been; they made him wonder what it was like out there. Even so, lying out under the stars on a clear night was a luxury he treasured when he could get it, seeing that he was always so “busy”.

“They’re beautiful, aren’t they?” he asked out loud, straightening his black beret. Beside him, his large griffin snorted in response, tapping the young man’s head with a mighty wing. The man examined himself: his red-and-white striped sweater, white cotton gloves, black jeans, and black socks; His red sneakers were on top of his small stack of briefcases. A feeling was making his stomach churn, and it hurt a little. Was it guilt? No, he was trained to block out guilt. Was it fear? Of course not; what did he, a Hexalian, have to fear?! Was it maybe--could it really be…loneliness…?

“Trevor?” the sudden call of his name made the young man jump. He was immediately on his feet and facing his superiors, the Royal Family, the Kalman Brothers: Leroy, Sven, and Carman. They all smirked at him.

“You slacking off, little buddy?” Carman, the eldest, asked. Trevor sighed, chuckling as he put on his sneakers.

“I’m sorry, sirs;” he apologized as he stood up again. “I took a little break, and time got away, I suppose…” Sven, the middle child, pulled off Trevor’s hat and ruffled his brown hair.

“Look, shorty, don’t sweat it;” he explained, handing the beret back to Trevor. “Get your bags and follow us. Bring Orion with you.” The three brothers waited by the building while Trevor gathered his six briefcases. He snapped his fingers inside his gloves, and a cart appeared on the grass. He stacked five briefcases in the cart, and the griffin, Orion, picked up the last one in his beak. His superiors led him and Orion into the building and through the halls.

“So, what’s going on?” Trevor asked as the brothers led him into the briefing room.

“Well, shorty,” Leroy, the youngest, began. “We’ve got a new assignment for you. You’re pretty used to Earth now, so we think you can handle this.” Leroy touched a button on the wall, and a large panel on the wall sprang to life. He touched the panel lightly, and various pictures appeared on it. Sven pressed his finger on one picture and dragged it across the panel to the center where Trevor could see it. It was a bird’s-eye view of a large building; a small caption under it noted that it was in Cincinnati, Ohio, on Earth’s United States.

“What’s this, guys?” Trevor asked, standing up and moving closer to the screen.

“This is your objective, shorty; The Academy of Cincinnati!” Leroy explained. “This building was once a large hospital, but the construction had cost so much, there wasn’t enough money for…anything else really. The doctors and such got evicted, and a superintendent bought the building and had it converted into a school. There are ten floors, a hidden basement, four gyms, about 400 classrooms, and approximately 2600 students. It houses grades K-12, and has been in business with the same principal for seven years.”

“I take it that’s a long time in your opinion…” Trevor snickered, realizing what he had to do.

“You could say so; In light of that, it’s time for a new principal, and that’s you, Trevor.” Leroy handed Trevor a file case full of papers and photos. “Now, this is our complete file on this school’s entire current staff. It’s got their names, criminal records, addresses, phone numbers, classroom numbers, the subjects they teach, the students who attend their classes, and just a bit of their family history.” Trevor stared at the case nervously.

“Y-You don’t expect me to study this whole thing, do you?” he stuttered. Leroy just laughed heartily, slapping the younger man’s shoulder.

“Yes…” He finally answered, and Trevor sighed; Leroy put his serious face back on and continued. “Now, you don’t have to read that whole thing all at once, only when you need it. Even so, we still expect you know at least half of it by the time you complete the mission.”

“I must tell you now, Trevor Bansel,” Carman chimed in, sighing. “Many of our agents have attempted this mission, but none have succeeded.”

“They were found out?!” the young agent asked in horror.

“No, they just cracked under the pressure; not because they had to become a principal over 1300-and-some kids and 400-and-a-few staff workers. It was because the real reason for this mission is to find the believers.” Trevor was speechless now. For a second, he thought Carman was just teasing him again, but when the solemn looks stayed on the Kalman Brothers’ faces, he knew that this was the real thing. He held the file case tightly to his chest on instinct, and uneasily leaned against Orion.

You see, the believers are a small group of humans who possess a special ability that allows them unique powers to defeat Hexalians. The previous believers were very powerful, and they could defeat every Hexalian that challenged them. Even so, they didn’t cause trouble for the more civil ones; they only made trouble when provoked. Still, even with their initially docile nature, it took an army of over one thousand, with a very unsporting ambush in the dead of night even, to finally capture them. Trevor would be sad to admit it, but he was nervous too; if the believers have reincarnated over the past two hundred years, there was a fair chance they would be just as powerful as, if not more than, their ancestors.

“Trevor?” Sven called, nudging the agent. “You look a little pale, buddy.”

“I just think that this…you know, might be…” Trevor stuttered.

“…Too much for you? Yeah, that’s what they all said, but they never let us finish. Trevor, we’ve been trying to get this mission underway for the past five years, but with all this delay, we may not be able to incarcerate the believers before they become active.”

“Wait; ‘Become active’? What does that mean exactly?”

“Trevor, Trevor, Trevor…Just because the believers are reincarnated, it doesn’t mean they have their powers just yet. In other words, they aren’t active yet.”

“How do you know?”

“If they were active, an alarm would have gone off; and the second it does, the wholes of Hexalia Minor and Hexalia Major will know that the believers are back. However, it’s been almost 250 years since the alarm rang; the anticipation has got most of the planet riled up for battle, and we want action before we all explode!”

“I take it that means I can’t decline the mission?” Trevor chuckled, rocking on his heels like a guilty five-year-old as he hugged the file case.

“You better believe it, agent Heartless Angel.” Sven tickled the agent’s stomach just to relax him and see him fall over with laughter.

“Get up, soldier!” all three Kalman brothers shouted, and Trevor jumped to his feet. “Agent Trevor Bansel, sound off!”

“My name is Trevor Bansel!” he announced loudly. “Codename: Heartless Angel! My mission: infiltrate Cincinnati; take over its Academy and find and incarcerate the new believers!"

“Very good, shorty,” Carman snickered. “Now, I’d like you to meet your main crew; Agents, front and center!” A door behind Orion opened and three young agents marched out, two men and a young woman in between them. They stood in a line beside the Kalman Brothers and loyally saluted them.

“Sirs!” they shouted respectfully.

“Agents!” Carman commanded, “Sound off!” The young woman stepped up first and saluted Trevor.

“My name is Melanie Sanchez!” she shouted. “Codename: Rabid Rabbit! My mission: assist Trevor Bansel by conducting background checks on suspicious characters!” The shorter of the two men-- though still taller than Trevor-- stepped up beside Melanie and saluted the Heartless Angel.

“My name is Fillmore Monroe!” he exclaimed. “Trainee Codename: Five-Star Rookie #10! My mission: assist Trevor Bansel by scanning the Cincinnati citizens for unusual DNA patterns!” The third man was known as a Stronghold Commander, second only to the Royal Family in this attack force. He wore a smug grin as he loomed over Trevor like an evil older brother. He grabbed Trevor’s shirt collar, lifting him off the floor.

“Name’s Zachary;” he growled hauntingly, sending chills of fear through Trevor’s body. “I’m the Venom Chameleon, and I’m stuck having to commandeer a house for you to live in during your mission…” He eyed the Kalman Brothers. “…A mission, of course, that should have been mine…” Carman shot him a look and mouthed a word that can’t be printed here. Zachary let Trevor fall to the floor, and glared at the Royals as he left the room. 

“Anyway…” Sven said loudly, regaining the room’s attention; he placed a set of keys into Trevor’s white-glove-clad hand. “We tuned up your GRV, Trevor. I swear she’ll fly like a dragonfly in a warp tunnel after what we’ve done! You guys better get a move on; the night is still young, and you have to breach the city before sunrise.” The Kalman Brothers led the young agents out to the runway behind the building.

Outside, Trevor examined his ride with care and admiration; any silly human would think it was a recreational vehicle, but thanks to Hexalian engineering, it –along with others like it- was the finest space flyer in all of the known galaxies. It was sleek red with the brand name, Forester’s, in blue on both sides. A small group of robots was loading Trevor’s and his team’s luggage into the back storage compartment on the vehicle. Orion squeezed into the compartment with all the bags, folding his wings down and curling up for a nap.

“We’re proud of you, shorty.” Leroy chuckled, he and his brothers shaking Trevor’s hand. “Give us a full report when you get to Earth.” Trevor nodded, following his teammates into the rocket.

With all the excitement and congratulations, no one seemed to notice the small video camera lens protruding from a nearby bush. Suddenly, the lens began to shake.

“Ouch…Ouch…” the camera’s owner winced as she scratched her right ear with her small hind paw. “Curse thee, ear mite and all your children, too… Kix, am I bleeding? I need to file these claws.”

“You said the vet gave you the ear drops, Maize.” Her lover reminded her, pushing her claws away from her now bloodied ear with his own paw.

“I meant that literally, Valentine; the drops are in my pack, but the vet didn’t put any in my ears!” The orange cat sighed as his charcoal-colored lover continued scratching.

“Mom, the opportunity window is closing!” Kix, a blue-pelted cat, called to his parents.

“Mistress will be mad if we mess this up, everybody.” Ginseng, a green-pelted cat, informed her family.

“That’s right!” Daisy, a pink, and Mordecai, a yellow, added.

Poking their heads out of the shrub, the two cats and their four kittens saw a robot pushing a luggage cart going past the bush. As the cart passed, the family leapt onto it and hid inside an open suitcase. When said suitcase was loaded into the storage compartment, the large door was closed and sealed shut. Maize’s camera was held outside of the suitcase with the robotic arm coming from her backpack. Valentine examined the viewing screen as the camera scanned the compartment.

“Coast is clear!” he told his family, lifting the top of the suitcase to let them out. At that moment, a voice came over the small intercom on Valentine’s collar:

“Six-Star, have you made it onboard?” the female voice asked.

“Yes, Mistress,” Valentine responded, “Phase one is accomplished!”

“Excellent, Valentine; now, Six-Star, phase two: you’ve got to get into the cabin and see what’s happening. Activate the camera, and I’ll channel the picture to our screen here at headquarters. Good luck, agents.”

The robotic arm in Maize’s pack held the camera balanced on Maize’s little head, so that it focused on anything she looked at. With that in place, the small clan called Six-Star began to trek across the floor of the storage compartment. They passed the large griffin, Orion, who yawned and eyed them passively. They all greeted him silently as he didn’t move to stop them when they began climbing up onto his back. Six-Star managed to reach a broken air vent and crawl through it into the main cabin. There, they saw Trevor sitting at the vehicle’s controls, pressing buttons that converted the vessel so it would be suitable for space travel. The windows and doors were sealed airtight, and wings and rockets extended from the sides. A projector broadcast the Kalman Brothers on the inside of the windshield.

“Good luck, shorties!” Leroy and Sven laughed, waving to the young agents; Zachary huffed angrily. Carman chuckled and rolled his eyes.

“Make us proud, chief!” He called to Trevor, saluting the team. Trevor looked out the window and gave the Royals a thumbs-up as the projector deactivated. Then, his teammates took their seats and strapped themselves in. Trevor typed the flight commands, and tightened his seatbelt before hitting the launch key. All at once, the ship jerked, and then sped down the runway at a speed that tore the oxygen straight from the agents’ lungs. If you think that they’re having fun, how do you think Six-Star is doing? 

“Mom…” Ginseng groaned, having been thrown and pressed against the wall from the pressure of take-off. “This…really…hurts!” Maize and Valentine couldn’t respond to their eldest daughter because they were pinned to the wall as well. A voice came through Valentine’s intercom.

“Six-Star, what’s going on?!” their mistress was shouting.

“The rocket is launching!” Valentine groaned in pain. “We’ve been pinned! We’ll reconnect after we break Hexalia’s orbit!”

Across the rolling hills of Hexalia Minor, miles from the red brick building, another building stood; through one window on the highest floor, a young redhead woman of thirty-two wearing a hooded black cloak stared at the sky with an electronic telescope. Immediately catching her eye was a rocket launching into the stratosphere. Zooming in on the rocket as much as possible, she saw six paw-prints arranged in a five-point star stamped on its side.

“Six-Star’s rendezvous is losing visibility, Mistress!” she called to the cloaked woman across the room.

“Good eye, Spider Keeper;” the Mistress complimented; she looked to the Spider Keeper’s sister, who wore a black cloak as well. “Dragonfly Huntress, fire up the homing device!” the third woman nodded respectfully and pressed a button on the small machine in her hands: a machine which resembled a handheld game. The screen flashed to life, displaying the Hexalian sky and a flashing red blip.

“Six-Star is onscreen, Mistress,” she announced. “But they’re leaving pretty fast.”

“Interesting…” the Mistress sighed. “All right, you two, we don’t have much time. Your mission is to head into space, beat the invasion team to Earth, and meet up with Six-Star at your house in Cincinnati. Remember: You have to find the believers before the invasion force captures them. Time is not on our side, children, and as always, the odds are against us. We’ve got to show the world that the Hexalian Rebel Force is a force to be acknowledged! Now, girls, get going!” The young women nodded to their leader and jumped to their feet.

“Keeper; wait!” The young redhead turned to her Mistress, who wore a look of pure concern as she approached. She touched the rebel agent’s face, running gentle fingers over the black eye that was there.

“Where’d this come from?” Mistress asked as if she didn’t know. The Spider Keeper twiddled her fingers.

“He—He hit me again;” she murmured. “It’s nothing, though, really!” The Mistress gave her a look of disapproval. Even so, she sighed and told the Keeper to follow her sister. The siblings ran down the hall and out to the runway behind the building.

“Wait!” the Spider Keeper shouted just before she boarded the rocket. “Where’s the Trifecta?!” She whistled loudly, and out of the bushes, three ferrets scrambled to her. They all climbed up her legs and up onto her shoulders. The Dragonfly Huntress rolled her eyes and yanked her sister and her ferret friends onto the rocket. She had to look over her shoulder every few seconds to make the Spider Keeper hadn’t unstrapped herself during takeoff. The ship was quick to get into space, and as it did, the communicator crackled to life.

“Have you girls broken orbit?” the Mistress called.

“Yes, ma’am;” the Dragonfly Huntress answered. “What do we do now?”

“The Seek-and-Capture team is miles ahead of you! I’m activating the remote Hyper-Jump.”

“Say what?!” the Spider Keeper shrieked. “Mistress, please! I hate the Hyper-Jump!”

“Sorry, sis, but this is war;” she sighed. “We’re ready, Mistress.”

“Excellent, girls; initiating remote Hyper-Jump.” The communicator immediately shut off, and red lights flashed brightly all around the main cabin. Metal plates shielded the outsides of the rocket’s windows, and the ship began to shake violently.

“ _HYPER-JUMP ACTIVATED!_ ” a computerized voice yelled _._ “ _PREPARE FOR 10,000 LIGHTYEAR CROSS! 5…4…3…2…_ ” Suddenly, it was silent, but a sonic boom had gone off in the vacuum of space, launching the ship into an invisible warp tunnel.

“That was awful…” Trevor whined as he recovered from the Hyper-Jump their ship had just taken; he sighed as the ship cruised into Earth’s orbit. “My stomach will be doing the jitterbug for days.” Melanie poked his belly gently, making him flinch. She picked up his hat, which had been shaken off during the Jump, and she tossed it passively into his lap.

“Don’t worry, big guy.” She advised, unlatching Trevor’s seatbelt and pulling him to his feet. “You’ll be fine…that is, until we have to land.” The white gloves Melanie wore were adorned with a single black star on each glove, and the purple sweat clothes she wore kept her warm on the chilly ship. Out of nowhere, two red gloves gripped her shoulders like vices. Their owner leaned next to her ear and blew on it flirtatiously. Melanie shrieked in many different types of fear, jumping into Trevor’s arms.

“Zachary!” she accused harshly. “Do I really have to tell you twelve times to stop doing that?!” The Stronghold Commander huffed, blowing her a kiss as he sauntered away smugly.

“What a jerk!” Trevor exclaimed in disgust. “He’s a disgrace to the Hexalian Code.”

“Tell me about it.” Melanie sighed as she climbed out of Trevor’s arms. Trevor held onto her shoulder before she could walk away.

“Millie,” he instructed sternly. “Don’t you dare get involved with him; He’s a real menace around the headquarters, and rumors say the Royals want to fire him.” Melanie giggled slightly at his immense concern for her. Even so, she didn’t blame him; he was her older cousin, after all.

“Don’t worry about me, Trevor.” She assured him loyally, “Your baby cousin won’t get involved with bad men.” He ruffled her brown hair and playfully shoved her away. She wandered over to Fillmore, who was sitting on the sofa, staring at his laptop like he was hypnotized. In reality, though, he had managed to fall asleep with his eyes open.

“Wake up, Filly.” Melanie whispered in his ear, shaking him slightly. He blinked and smiled sleepily at her.

“Hey, babe, how are you?” he asked, again typing on his computer. Melanie sat down beside him and sighed.

“I still didn’t tell him…” she murmured quietly, leaning on Fillmore’s shoulder. Without looking up, Fillmore wrapped his arm around her waist and rubbed her stomach.

“You have to tell him soon, Melanie;” he informed her. “Before he finds out himself and gets all mad at us.”

“I doubt he’ll get mad. He likes you; it’s Zachary he can’t stand.”

“So? We can’t keep this a secret forever; not after what the doctor said…”

“Please don’t pull that ‘The-Doctor-Said’ card on me… I’ll tell him! I promise.” With that, she kissed his lips and left him to his work. Out of sight, Zachary glared jealously at Fillmore.

“Guys, guys!” Trevor was shouting, his face pressed against the large window at the side of the cabin. “You’ve got to check this out!” Melanie was quick to join him, and Fillmore pried himself away from his computer to join as well; Zachary could’ve cared less.

“Wow!” the three young adults at the window marveled. This was the Earth; a massive rock covered in large portions by blue and by brown and green. Immense drifts of white clouds floated above it all, and the sun shone valiantly from behind the planet.

“It’s beautiful!” Melanie mused, her eyes sparkling with intrigue.

“It always is…” Trevor sighed dreamily, having seen this sight a dozen times. “It’ll never get old, I swear.”

“ _LANDING PROCEDURES INITIATTED!_ ” The computer’s voice shouted through the speakers as the cabin was bathed in a red light. The ship jerked, throwing the young Hexalians to the floor; everyone looked up to see Zachary at the ship’s controls.

“Are you out of your mind?!” Trevor shouted, snatching Zachary from the steering control. “You’re supposed to warn the passengers before you try to nose-dive into the Pacific Ocean!” Zachary just smirked and rolled his eyes, returning to his seat. Somehow though, the path to Zachary’s seat involved stealing a kiss from Melanie’s lips and throwing Fillmore’s laptop to the floor. The two victims fumed in anger, but Trevor had to hold them back.

“You can kill him later!” he shouted, trying to calm them. “As for now, man your stations, agents!” Fillmore retrieved his computer and took his place at the DNA tracker; Melanie sat down at the navigational scope; Zachary spirited away to some hiding place. Trevor took the controls again, taking the ship through its landing procedure. The agents were all business now.

“Navigator, where are we?” Trevor asked.

“We’re approaching North America from the Western Seaboard.” Melanie responded. “Lower altitude to 7000 feet.” Trevor pulled a switch, and the ship dropped drastically, rattling the agents in their seats.

“We’re over the Mountain Time Zone,” Melanie announced a half-hour later, “Lower speed and altitude by 175 each.” Trevor flicked switches and pressed unlabeled buttons skillfully, only now happy he hadn’t let Zachary control the ship.

“We’ve reached Ohio;” Fillmore said in Melanie’s place, rubbing the sleeping navigator’s shoulder. “Let’s drop this bird, Trevor. I see an open highway, no witnesses.”

“I’m on it;” Trevor chuckled, “I suggest you strap in, Fillmore.” Fillmore nodded, shaking Melanie awake before going back to his seat. Trevor pressed the stereotypical red button, causing the ship to go into a power dive at a forty-five degree angle.

“Look out for that car!” Zachary shouted out of nowhere, scaring the life out of Trevor. He shoved Trevor to the floor and replaced him at the steering controls. He activated the ship’s transform engine, morphing the vehicle back into an “RV”, and he stomped on the gas. The ship accelerated, flinging Trevor against a wall as it hit the highway and drove on.

“Trevor!” Melanie shrieked in panic, jumping from her seat and kneeling beside her unconscious cousin. She shook him awake as Fillmore approached them.

“Guys…” Trevor groaned, wiping the blood from his mouth and nose. “Can one of you hand me that thing over there?” He pointed under the bench beneath the window.

“That’s the tire iron.” Fillmore informed him, a curious look on his face.

“Yes, it is, isn’t it?” With the tire iron in hand, Trevor got to his feet and staggered to the front of the cabin. Zachary sat there smugly, steering the vehicle down the highway.

“This is how it should be;” he chuckled to himself. “This mission is mi--” He was cut off by the dull sound of cold steel striking his skull. He fell to the floor, unconscious. Trevor sighed, snapping his gloved fingers. Four disembodied white gloves identical to the pair he was wearing hovered aimlessly near his head.

“Move him;” Trevor commanded, pointing at Zachary like he was trash. “I bet he’d like a nice, long nap with Orion in the cargo bay.” The gloves lifted the unconscious Hexalian off the floor, and carried him away. Trevor took his place at the steering wheel again.

“Maybe now I can get some work done…” Trevor muttered, rubbing his bleeding forehead. “Ouch. Millie, how close are we?” Melanie checked the navigator while Fillmore turned the cabin upside-down looking for the first-aid kit.

“Cincinnati’s only twenty miles away now, cousin;” she informed him, treating the wound on his forehead. “But the navigator says our new house is forty miles.”

“Hmm, in that case, I’ll let you drive, Melanie; I have a headache.” He muttered some words in French as he wandered over to one of the beds. 

About forty-five minutes later, Melanie stopped the “RV” in the drive way of a house in the Cincinnati suburbs. She woke up Trevor and followed him off the vehicle. Outside, Fillmore was typing commands into a machine with a long, blinking antenna.

“Stupid machine…” he grumbled, kicking the console in frustration.

“What’s-a matter?” Trevor asked, chuckling. “The DNA tracker broken?”

“No, it scanned the city just fine, but it won’t give me any names! I’ve got eleven DNA strands that contain the genes we’re looking for, but I have no clue as to who they belong to!” Trevor nodded calmly, seeing that this was an issue, but then an evil smirk appeared on his face. He adjusted his hat over his eyes and chuckled darkly.

“I know what to do.” he assured them, snapping his fingers. In his gloved hand, a device appeared; it resembled some kind of scepter adorned with a glowing red orb.

“That’s the--” Melanie gasped in awe.

“The Radiate Wand.” Trevor stated, holding the wand high so it sparkled in the moonlight. “The Kalman Brothers told me that if the believers are exposed to the Hexalian radiation from this wand, they’ll morph into their believer forms; those believer genes will temporarily go from recessive to dominant in a matter of about six days and…twelve hours.”—He eyed his watch—“That’s Halloween night, guys.” He pressed the button on the wand, and the orb began to glow blindingly; a blast of red energy fired into the sky before expelling in circular waves across the entire of Cincinnati.

Not far away, Six-Star, who had managed to get off of the ship in six whole pieces, was strolling down the suburb sidewalk, looking for their rendezvous point.

“Mistress, what did you say the ladies’ house looked like?” Valentine asked into his intercom.

“It has the flowerbed with ginseng blooms and purple roses.” The Mistress responded, “Are you guys sure you’ve recovered from that ride?”

“Well, most of us have, right, Maize?” Valentine chuckled as Maize groaned sickly. “We’ll reconnect at the rendezvous—oh, gosh!” The clan Six-Star looked to the sky in shock as red rings streaked over the city. Their ears twitched erratically as a strange energy filled the air.

“Radiation…” Maize whispered in awe, watching the rings fade away just as the sun began to rise; she looked to her family. “The believers are in danger! We’re running out of time!” The clan of felines broke into a mad dash, just barely noticing their meeting point before they passed it. They jumped onto the porch and onto a windowsill. Valentine tapped the window with his orange paw.

The Dragonfly Huntress polished her menacing-looking gun and watched the Spider Keeper pace about feverishly.

“What are you so upset about, sis?” she asked. “This is nothing we haven’t handled before.”

“Are you crazy?!” the Spider Keeper shouted. “You saw the sky! The believers really are here!”

“We don’t know that, S-K; you’re overreacting.”

“Listen, do you honestly think they’d one: Bring the Red Radiate Wand here and two: Shoot radiation into the sky and air without knowing the believers would be around to be affected?” Their discussion was interrupted by a tapping on the window. The Keeper opened the window, and Six-Star bounded into the room, except for Maize, who crawled feebly into the Keeper’s arms, still feeling nauseous.

“You see the sky, too?” Kix asked. The Hexalian women nodded.

“The Keeper’s ferrets had gone into a mad frenzy, so we checked outside.” The Huntress informed them. “Mistress will definitely want to hear about this. For now though…” She put one hand on the couch; the Spider Keeper put her hand on top, and all of Six-Star stacked their paws on the pile.

“Mission One Complete.” They all announced to themselves.

Meanwhile, across the city, eleven humans shifted in their sleep; the time: 6:45 AM on October 25, 2009.


	2. Part One: Radiation Hex100/Chapter 1

“Wake up…” came a somewhat playful whisper. I groaned, grabbing my pillow and rolling away from it. There was a quiet, sneaky chuckle. I admit I tensed; Out of nowhere, a shove to my shoulder flings me off my bed and to the floor. I rubbed my arm and glared at my older brother as he pulled me to my feet.

“Next time, you should get up.” He laughed.

“Get lost, will you!” I shouted. “Don’t you have to go back to college tonight?”

“Yeah, but I’m not leaving ‘til after dinner, kid; now, what do we say?” I rolled my eyes and snarled.

“Good morning, Peter;” I growled angrily. “Now, get out of my room!”

“Temper, temper, Travvy.” He ruffled my already messed-up hair before striding out the door like a pleased cat. I huffed; the minute he goes back to school, I’m coating his room in silly string again.

As you may have realized, my name is Travis; Travis Malone to be exact. I’m nine years old, and I humbly welcome you to my home in Cincinnati, Ohio. This day was a breezy autumn Sunday: October 25, 2009, and it was about--

“Holy Frijoles!” I shouted when I saw my clock. “Peter, why didn’t you tell me it was ten o’clock?!” He poked his head back into my room, a curious look on his face.

“You have somewhere to be or something?” he asked, but then he sneered. “Because I’m the one who turned off your alarm clock.” I sighed, and then I remembered that Peter goes out on Sundays; it made me smugly think about the rotten eggs I stuffed in his running shoes last night.

“TRAVIS!” Peter screamed from the foyer. “Mom! Travis is pulling pranks on me again!”

“Tattletale!” I accused. I took a shower, only to find out that my family had used up the hot water; this is why I always set my alarm clock. I threw on an orange sweater, the one that doesn’t seem to keep me warm at all, and my blue jeans with the torn cuffs. I tied my jacket around my waist and grabbed my backpack before I stepped into the hall. I saw one of my older sisters sitting on the stairs and giggling into her cell phone. I wiggled my toes in my white socks, smirking as I shuffled my feet across the hall rug. Just as I was about to poke her and unleash my static shock, she spun around and grabbed my wrist, pulling me up and tickling under my arm.

“No fair, Vanessa!” I laughed. “I thought you were Marinae!” She laughed too and hugged me, ruffling my hair.

“I’m not Peter, little fratello,” she giggled, showing off her Italian. “You should know better than to mess with me.”

“That’s nice, V; where is Marinae, anyway?”

“She went out earlier, and I’m supposed to be meeting up with them soon. Why don’t you hook up with your little clan? Word on the street is that a new kid just moved in around the block; I hear they’re about your age.”

“Thanks V; hey, would you walk me to Randy’s house?” She looked at me sweetly, and then glanced at her watch. She tapped her chin and stared into my green, catlike eyes.

“Oh, okay.” She finally said, “But you better be ready when I call you.” I nodded, bouncing down the stairs and running to the closet. My grandmother wandered toward me.

“What are you looking for, Travis?” she asked. “Anything I can help with?”

“Have you seen my skates and yellow sneakers?” I asked.

“They’re right by the door where you keep leaving them, you naughty bit.”

“Sorry, Grammy…It’s a habit.” She slapped my shoulder lightly.

“It’s a habit to break, Travvy.” I nodded obediently, running into the kitchen. I threw a frozen waffle into the toaster, literally, and sat at the table next to my parents; my mom was deep in thought.

“What are you doing?” I asked curiously. She jumped and smiled at me, sighing contentedly as Dad rubbed her back.

“I’m just wondering about Susan and Janice; they work so hard, babysitting you and being the school’s secretaries.” She told me, her Irish accent clear; she turned to my dad. “What do you think, George?” He thought for a minute, before smiling.

“I think they’re very hard-working, especially Janice.” He chuckled, his Italian accent clear as well. “Susan must be a real handful at home. But Susan’s ex really seems to be vicious. Why don’t you go check up on her, Travis?” My parents laughed and I just sighed, grabbing my dry waffle and running back to the foyer. I don’t really have to visit them; they’re babysitting me and my friends tomorrow while our parents go to some emergency PTA meeting at our school.

“Vanessa!” I called as I strapped on my rollerblades. She giggled as she approached me, still chatting into her cell. What I wouldn’t give to take a hammer to that phone…

“So, you ready?” she asked me, helping me to my feet. She handed me my sneakers and supervised me as I jumped off the porch and rolled down our walkway to the sidewalk. Vanessa gave me a harsh shove, sending me rolling along the sidewalk while she ran to keep up with me.


	3. Chapter 2

“Slow down, you runt!” Vanessa called after me. I laughed triumphantly…right before something hit me in the face and knocked me over.

“Bull’s-Eye!” a familiar voice shouted as I rubbed my cheek where I’d been hit. Orange paint came off on my fingers. A tall teenager loomed over me and chuckled.

“I think you’re getting to be a real sharpshooter, Randy.” He complimented as his little brother approached, a paintball gun on his shoulder. Randy smirked, helping me get up. He has pale white skin and very dark blue eyes. His family was once a family-run circus in their homeland, Brazil (he has to have the second biggest family I know of; the first being mine!), and he plays a bass guitar like a professional rock-and-roller. His black hair was falling into his face as usual, and I was surprised he could see me; He almost always dresses in black or some similar color, so it’s easy to lose him in dark places. Vanessa ran over and jumped onto Randy’s brother, covering his eyes with her hands.

“Guess who, Lionel.” She giggled; Randy rolled his eyes. His older brother laughed.

“The adorable older sister of my little brother’s squirrely friend?” he asked.

“Who you calling squirrely?!” I shouted, and Randy chuckled. He handed me his paintball gun and ran into his house. It wasn’t long before he came back wearing his backpack and rolling an oversized beach ball. He sneered at me before jumping on the ball and walking on it as it rolled down the sidewalk.

“Don’t you lose that thing, runt!” Lionel called as he and Vanessa sped away on his motorcycle. Lose the giant ball or the paintball gun?

“Travis?” I twitched at the voice, but smiled down at the small boy beside me. Randy smirked down from his perch, waving to his baby brother.

“Morning, Keith,” he greeted; he chuckled at seeing the five-year-old still in his pajamas. “Going back to bed?”

“Can I play with you guys?” Keith asked happily, hopping about. “I have my backpack with me!” Poking out of said backpack was a skunk plush that had an extra eye; those factory errors are getting a lot less subtle. Randy looked at me evilly and winked.

“Okay, Keith, you can come,” he agreed. “But Travis will be looking after you.” Keith smiled and gripped my hand. I pat his head and led him as we followed Randy down the sidewalk.

We eventually came to Laura’s house, where she was shooting marbles with Monica and the twins on the sidewalk.

“Travis!” Monica squealed happily, running toward me and jumping into my arms. I cradled the eight-year-old ball of energy as carefully as possible.

“You get lighter every day, don’t you?” I asked. She squealed with laughter and hugged me; at that moment, I dropped her, eyeing her somewhat angrily. I held out my hand silently, but when she tried to pull herself to her feet on it, I let her fall again.

“Give it back…” I snarled, holding out my hand again. Monica huffed and rolled her eyes; she pulled my tiger tooth necklace, which she had removed from around my neck, from her jacket pocket and handed it back. She smiled at me hopefully, but I crossed my arms and my negative look stayed. She groaned in frustration and dug through her pockets. She returned the following possessions she’d frisked out of my backpack and pockets during that little hug: my yo-yo, my house keys, my cell phone, one of my drumsticks, my pencil case, my sports coach whistle, my wallet, my rubber band ball, my watch, and my lucky poker chip. I looked Monica over carefully as I threw all that stuff back into my bag. I pulled off her hat, under which, her pet chinchilla, Corazon was nibbling on a graham cracker, the same as the crackers that had been in the box in my backpack.

“You’ll get that back, too;” she joked, pointing to her little partner in crime. “But then, you might not want it.” She laughed; I tried not to humor her with a smile, though I admit toilet humor is one of the many subjects she shines in. Monica Hilton, everybody; her mother comes from Hawaii, but she and her father hail from Haiti, from which her family moved after that hurricane hit earlier this year. Her skin is milk chocolate brown, and her eyes are an electric blue. Her hair is naturally curly and jet black with streaks of yellow and purple on the bangs. She speaks fluently in Spanish and French, and she can fake a Jamaican accent perfectly. She is often seen wearing a white fedora and a blue jacket that’s about five sizes too big; I can tell you right now that the inside of that jacket is full of hand-sewn extra pockets. If you were actually paying attention during that little “hug scene”, you’ll probably have realized that Monica is, in reality, a master pickpocket. She has a ghost’s touch, and you would never know that she was going through your pockets. Also, she’s fast; she’ll have stolen the entire contents of your purse before you realize she was near it.

“I should get you for that;” I threatened as I sat on the sidewalk to put on my sneakers. I wrapped my arms around her and lifted her off the ground. I kept my eyes on her hands, even though her arms were pinned to her sides. She was having another giggle fit as I carried her. Laura and the twins grabbed their backpacks—Laura grabbed Monica’s as well—and followed me, Randy, and Keith down the sidewalk.

The twins, Ray and Riley Ortez, were walking beside me, telling Keith about how they once played with a Mariachi band in Mexico City when they were little. The Ortez twins and their family are from Mexico, and, despite being fraternal twins, they look more identical than any other twins I know. Because of that, Riley keeps her brown hair tied back in a ponytail and wears glasses that she doesn’t need. Ray has shoulder-length brown hair like Riley, but he lets it stay down. Both have a sun-kissed tan to their skin and big brown eyes that are always staring into space. Ray is the pacifist of the two, but he can yell and argue better than any politician; he often breaks up fights amongst our little posse, even though he occasionally starts them. Riley is a lot feistier, and with her black belt in Tae Kwon Do, she’s been known to win arguments by punching out her opponent; she has a very sweet face, but making her mad is a very stupid decision.

“Can you put me down now?” Monica asked me; I was carrying her over my shoulder. “I know I’m little, but I know how to walk.”

“No;” I told her blankly. “Just a little longer, okay? You’ll get down eventually.” I heard her sigh in defeat; At least, I thought it was defeat until she tried to kick me in the face.

“You see what I have to deal with?” she asked Laura, who was walking behind me. The young Asian girl giggled and pats Monica’s head sympathetically. Laura was born in China, but her mother is from Japan; she once told us that her family moved to Japan soon after she was born because of a law in China that I can’t remember. She speaks Chinese and Japanese fluently, along with English. She has pale white skin and long hair; oh, Lord, that hair! It’s been dyed so many colors in nine years, she says she doesn’t remember what her real hair color is! She has also taken a particular liking to a certain Brazilian circus boy since she moved to America. Speaking of Circus Boy—

“Yo!” he shouted down to us from his beach-ball, pointing toward three boys running toward us like they were being chased.

“Everybody run!” the tallest one shouted as his parrot perched on his shoulder. “Corey, Peter, and Lionel are on Suburban Sibling Hunt!” That’s Jefferson Cain, but we all know and refer to him as J-C, lest he beat us to a bunch of pulps. He’s the tallest, oldest, and strongest of our posse. He was born in New Orleans; His mother is from India, and his father’s mother is from Jamaica. He has long dreadlocks and is often seen wearing a Green Bay Packers jersey and a Chicago Cubs cap. He’s my right hand man, and we’ve known each other since the playpen at Daycare.

“If we don’t get back to base, we’ll be pummeled!” The jittery coward of the three shouted. Mr. Jitters is Elliott Garcia; He hails from Spain, but his father is from Greece. He’s the designated coward in our group, usually fleeing the battle before it even starts. He and I are, for some reason, practically identical. We’re the same height and have the same overall appearance. His skin is a bit paler than mine, his hair is charcoal black, and his eyes are bright blue; he’s also a whole year older than me. I just know that there is more fire in Elliott’s spirit than he lets on, but I’ll have to see it to confirm it.

“I suggest a strategic escape plan.” The smart, geeky one added. Bill Nye Jr. over there is Timothy Simms; his last name is actually twelve letters long and impossible to pronounce or spell (No, not Smithsonian; that’s only eleven letters), but he says that when he’s older, he’ll get it legally changed. His hair is strawberry-blonde, and he wears red glasses over yellow eyes. His father is from England, his mother is from Australia, and he was born in Massachusetts nine years ago. He’s very smart, almost as smart as Monica, and he’s a lot more athletic than he looks. There’s something else about Timmy, but he said that if I tell anyone, he’ll lock me in a closet for a week. (I believe him, because I once played hide-and-seek with him after I’d accidently broken his model car, and he “couldn’t find me” for about six hours)

Suddenly, a loud clack rang out, and a paintball struck the beach-ball Randy was standing on, effectively knocking him off. Up on the hill, I saw my big brother smirking down at us, a paintball gun on his shoulder. He motioned toward us and signaled somebody to follow him. I set Monica on her feet and grabbed hers and Keith’s hands, pulling both of them as we all ran back toward my house. Meanwhile, paintballs rained from the sky. Monica pulled her hand from mine and opened an umbrella. I glared furiously at her smiling face; that umbrella was mine. Randy snatched his paintball gun from my arm and gave us cover fire, having ditched the beach-ball. But one weapon wasn’t enough; we needed to get back to base: the tree-house in my backyard.


	4. Chapter 3

As we reached my house and ran toward the backyard, we noticed a young girl about our age sitting on the porch with a skateboard in her lap, a backpack on her shoulder, and three dogs sitting beside her. Her head and most of her upper torso were drenched in red slime. The smallest of the dogs, a Rottweiler, licked her face unceasingly. I approached her in a friendly manner, only to have three huge dogs growl fiercely and advance on me.

“Hey, hey!” the girl shouted. “Calm down, boys!” They settled, and she walked around them, stopping in front of me.

“Hi, there!” she greeted. “Uh, I’m sorry; is this your house? I was walking with my bodyguards here when my older brother and a bunch of boys he just met hit me with balloons filled with this red stuff. I ran away, and I followed two teenagers here, but when we got here, they told me to sit down, and then they locked me out.”—That means my other sister, Marinae, is home!—“I’m sorry if I’m barging in; my name’s Britney Collins. My family just moved in around the block.” Boy, she can talk; I chuckled lightly, smiling at her.

“Well, Britney,” I informed her, still processing all that…whatever she was saying. “Those boys with your brother happen to be my brother and two of my friends’ brothers. We’re running from them as well, and you and your bodyguards are welcome to join us in our ‘secret’ fort.” Britney laughed and followed us through the gate, which I quickly closed and locked, into the backyard. Before we did anything, we hosed the red slime, which we realized was ketchup thinned with water, off of Britney's face and clothes. Her dogs ran circles around the large lone orange tree, barking playfully at my friends as they climbed the ladder to my tree-house. 

“Did you build this?” Britney asked me as she climbed the ladder. I laughed as I followed her.

“Of course not, Brit,” I chuckled, “I don’t know cedar wood from oak; only my dad could build something like this on this property.” Britney nodded, but didn’t seem too pleased with her new pet name. She looked down at her three bodyguards, who were howling, calling to her.

“I’ll be down in a while, boys!” she called, as if she understood them; she pointed to the Rottweiler and the German-Shepherd. “Sprinkles and Colonel, you keep lookout! Howl if you catch David’s scent near that gate!” All three dogs sniffed the grass near the fence diligently, even poking their noses under rocks; as if they’d find something besides dirt and worms.

Meanwhile, my friends were readying our ammo, which I put up here myself late last night: a large bucket of water balloons, a box of slingshots, five loaded paintball guns, and a smoke bomb my granny and I made.

“Lock and load, people;” J-C sneered, adjusting the speed on his paintball gun. “Let’s make younger sibling history!”

“Huzzah!” Everyone —Besides Britney— shouted. That’s when the howling started; Sprinkles put his forepaws on the tree-house ladder and howled at Britney. Right after, I heard Peter shouting:

“Travis! You and those ankle-biters are dead! I’m tired of you locking this gate!”

“Bite me, you scumbag!” I shouted back. “You just try and take our fortress!”

I almost instantly regretted taunting him, because he kicked the gate open and immediately fired at our treetop fort. Monica pulled out the block of wood holding the window hatch open, letting the hatch take the onslaught. I picked up my smoke bomb and pressed the two buttons on it; I pulled out the pin, opened the window, and threw it down. Britney’s dogs scrambled into the bushes as large, thick clouds of white smoke sprayed from the bomb. The whole backyard was quickly filled with the thick smoke, and someone down there was firing blindly.

“Open fire!” I shouted. My friends grabbed their weapons and aimed out the window. I gave the signal, and they began firing into the cloud; all except for Keith, who was cowering in the corner with his skunk plush, and Elliott, who was just cowering. There were cries of pain and distress as paintballs and water balloons pierced the smoke and hit their marks.

“Cease fire, kids!” I shouted as the smoke began to clear. When it did, Peter was sitting on the ground in defeat with Corey and Britney’s older brother beside him; Lionel was holding up a white flag. I cautiously climbed down from the fort and approached him. He drove the flag into the ground and shook my hand like an honest soldier. Suddenly, he yanked me into a headlock and ruffled my hair as Vanessa sauntered into the backyard.

“Why can’t we ever beat you kids?” he chuckled, shoving me to the ground. I shrugged as my friends climbed down from the fort, and Britney’s bodyguards slunk out from under the bushes. Britney hugged her brother tightly.

“Looks like I’ve finally found a way to beat you, David.” She sneered. He ruffled her hair and stood up, standing a bit taller than Lionel.

“Only because you had help, shorty.” He smirked; he looked to his fellow soldiers. “Well, boys, it was fun, but I’m going home. Are you coming with me, Bright?” Britney looked at us and smiled.

“Can’t I stay for a while?” she asked hopefully. “I think I’ve finally got some friends.” David smirked at her.

“Sergeant!” he called. The largest of Britney’s dogs, the Doberman, walked toward him.

“Listen, buddy,” David instructed. “You and your troop need to protect her while I’m not around. I think you can trust the rug-rat gang over there, but keep your guard up. I’ll see you guys later.” With that, he left, closing the gate behind him.

“This calls for a group meeting.” I insisted.


	5. Chapter 4

I led my troop into my house and snuck them past my parents and grandmother, only to be stopped by my other sister, Marinae, and her punk jock boyfriend, Stephen. They weren’t really stopping us, but seeing them kissing on the couch did not go over well with me. I kicked Stephen’s shin harshly, and he cried out. My friends and I ran down the stairs to the basement just before my granny woke up and saw them.

“Didn’t your mother tell you not to let that hoodlum into this house?!” she shouted. I shut the basement door and locked it; we don’t let anyone in during our meetings. We let Britney do a lot of the talking, and we really got to know her. It turns out that her family came from Egypt, but the reason why, she said, was a family secret. She looked to her trio of bodyguards, and Sergeant snarled. She sighed, reaching into her backpack and pulling out a large, heavy book. The text on the book was impossible to read; we were sure it was some other language. She pushed the book toward me and grabbed my hand gently, holding it on the book’s cover. Her dogs gathered around her, and a glimmer of fear was in her eyes.

“Can I--” she stuttered, looking around nervously, “Can _we_ trust you?” I smiled at her, and I pressed my finger to my chest, crossing my heart. She looked hopefully at my friends, and they copied my motion. She squeezed my hand, and I felt her shudder; I could see tears in her eyes. But she was smiling, and all three dogs wagged their tails when she glanced at them. She sighed, blinking her tears away and pulling her hand back.

“I would hope that you guys are telling the truth;” she began, and I hoped she wouldn’t start rambling. “Of course, my friends here can sniff out a lie from miles away, so they could tell. If this secret were to leak out beyond this basement, I don’t think I--”

Suddenly, she was crying, her face buried into her sleeves, which were way too long for her arms. Ray moved toward her, and, surprisingly, the dogs let him. He hugged her gently, smiling sympathetically.

“You can trust us, Britney…” he told her; he does have a way with girls. “We’re experts at keeping secrets.” He placed his hand on the table and tapped the wooden surface repeatedly with his finger. All of us, besides Britney, stared at Riley, who was blushing furiously and hiding behind J-C.

“You guys know Morse Code?” Britney asked a glimmer of happiness in her big brown eyes. Ray nodded, apologizing to Riley for “telling” us something that personal. And believe you me; you do not want to know what it was. The apology didn’t matter though; Riley still tackled Ray and proceeded to beat him into the carpet. Family issue: in which we will not get involved.

“Anyway,” Britney sighed, giggling as she watched the twins fight. She brought our attention back the large book; mainly to the strangely shaped lock that held it shut. She reached into her backpack and pulled out a safety pin. Working the tip into the lock, it took her about twenty seconds to pick it and unlock it. I’ve always wanted to meet someone who picks locks—

“Can you teach me how to do that?” Monica squealed.—Then again…

Britney smiled as she opened the book and began flipping through pages.


	6. Chapter 5

Britney stopped on a bookmarked page in the dusty old book.

“Okay;” she began, coughing from the dust as she scanned the page. “Like I said, I can’t read this at all, but I noticed these pictures at the bottom of the page.” She pushed the book to the center of the table so we could see it. There were, indeed, pictures at the bottom of the page. Eleven of them lined up in a line; each with a small caption underneath that was, creepily, in English. Britney put her finger on the second-to-last picture; the caption read: _Egyptian Princess of the Underworld_.

“I realized that the words were riddles.” She explained. “I hadn’t thought much about that then, but I did notice that this picture was exactly like the Anubis head on my charm bracelet.”

She rolled up her left sleeve, showing us her shiny charm bracelet customized with an Anubis head with ruby eyes; it was perfectly identical to the picture in the book.

“It didn’t really seem that important to me until I held it close to the book.” She did just that, holding her wrist over the page. The picture began to glow bright yellow until she pulled her arm back. We sat there, stunned by this scene. She shyly motioned to the other pictures.

“I have to find all ten of these other things; if I do, I think something is supposed to happen. I’m a little scared to do it, though; something bad might happen to me, for all I know.”

“W-Well…” I spoke out, trying to reassure her. “Think positive, I always say. You never know what’ll really happen before you try it. Besides, Bright, no matter what does happen, we’re here for you.” She gave me a strange look; the kind you give people when you don’t want to hurt their feelings. Then she looked surprised, almost in fainting-quality shock. She scanned the book before suddenly asking if she could borrow my necklace. I handed it to her, and she dangled the tiger tooth over the page; the first picture in the row glowed a fiery red. The riddle had read: _Feline Fang of Fire and Combustion_.

“Seems like someone knows about your little ‘habit’ of burning people’s trash, Travvy.” J-C sneered, and I tried to hide the blush on my face. It’s just a bad habit; I’m trying to stop! Britney smiled and handed back my necklace. I had to tickle Monica’s sides to keep her from stealing it before I could get it, but who’s complaining (besides her)?

“Alright,” Britney continued while Monica was still squealing with laughter. “This next riddle says: _Sweet Face, Bright Eyes, Fast Feet, and Sticky Fingers_. Any ideas?”

“I’d probably be able to think…” Randy began; he turned to me and Monica, where I was still poking at her stomach. “…If you lovebirds would put it on hold for a minute!” I let the little blue-eyed girl go, and she blushed, still giggling; why does he always call us lovebirds? I scooted next to Britney and glanced at the picture near that caption she mentioned. It looked like the somewhat familiar paw-print of some rodent; the riddle had given me a bit of an idea, but the picture was throwing me off. Monica must have been thinking the same thing; she took off her hat and scratched her head in confusion. Freed from the barren walls inside of the white fedora, Corazon hopped off of Monica’s head and onto the table, sniffing for crumbs from the graham crackers Monica had been eating (the ones the stole from me). That’s what I thought until she began tugging my necklace away from me and toward Monica; she’s as much a thief as her owner. I snatched my necklace away from her, and she walked away, scorned. She wandered onto the book, and we watched in awe as the picture of the paw-print glowed bright with blue and white stripes.

“Well, I’ll be…”Monica chuckled, picking up her partner in crime. “I always knew carrying you around in my hat would come in handy sometime!” I smiled in disbelief and tossed a pillow at her. As usual, she giggled and thought nothing more of the matter. Britney scribbled the information on a piece of paper and pointed to the next caption and picture. Well, actually, the one caption had two pictures, and I had a pretty good feeling about who this would represent.

“‘ _One if by Land, Two if by Sea_ ’” Britney read. “The pictures look like animals or something; I don’t recall the Revolutionary War having anything to do with animals.” I nodded, and I looked to where Ray and Riley were still fighting; Ray was sporting a slight nosebleed.

“Hey, ya’ll!” I shouted at them angrily. “Don’t start bleeding on this carpet! Do you realize that my granny and I had to use illegal chemicals to clean the mess from the last time you two had a ‘little fight’?”

“You did?!” Ray asked in disbelief, shoving Riley off of him. It’s a shame that he’s a pacifist; he got mauled while Riley just had her hair messed up.

“Of course he didn’t estúpido!” Riley snarled, apparently still angry. “Even Travis Z. Malone isn’t crazy enough to use illegal chemicals in his own house!”

“Ugh, you two fight like cats and dogs!” Elliott groaned.

Hmm… I thought. Revolutionary War? Cats and Dogs? Something seemed to be forming in my brain… I just couldn’t place it. Then it hit me:

“I’ve got it!” I announced, pointing at the twins. “Didn’t you two once tell me that you went to see an animal reenactment of the Revolutionary War a few years ago?” They groaned in disgust.

“That was some cheap educational cartoon for kids.” Riley huffed. “Our parents made us go to the library to watch it.”

“That movie put dogs as the Americans and made them look stuck-up and arrogant, and the cats that played the British seemed ignorant and even more stuck-up than the dogs!” Ray exclaimed. “It was an insult to the domesticated animal kingdom!”

“Yeah; and then they bought us these stupid key chain trinkets of General Greyhound Washington and Chartreux Cornwallis that we didn’t even want!”

“Which is such a shame because the Chartreux cat breed originated in France, and the French actually helped the Americans win the war.” Ray mentioned, and Riley snickered.

“Would you two happen to have those offending trinkets on your person right now?” I asked before I realized how disturbing that sentence sounded. The twins smiled oddly and pulled their out house keys, along with the key chains in question; I will agree that they looked pretty stupid. I placed them both on the book, and one picture glowed with brown and yellow stripes while the other glowed brown and blue.

“Awesome!” the twins shouted happily; then they glared at each other. “Jinx!” I smiled at them; they’re so moody aren’t they?

“Anyway…” Laura called, sitting on her knees to see the book more clearly. “This next picture looks like a feather. It says: _Flight of the Young Bear from Wisconsin_. That makes no sense at all.” Monica raised her hand.

“Let’s ask J-C.” she suggested; she turned toward him, watching as he held Karen perched on one finger. “J-C, do you have any ideas?”

“Well,” He smirked. “I think it’s me. Look: Karen the parrot flies, the Chicago Cubs—I guess—are the young bears, and the Green Bay Packers are from Wisconsin. If I’m right, this picture is of one of Karen’s tail feathers. She’s lucky I kept the one that fell out last week; the last time I just plucked one out, she flew away, and we found her at the animal shelter.” He pulled a bright red feather from his jacket pocket and set it on the book’s dusty page. The picture of the feather glowed bright sky blue until J-C took the feather back.

“You see how fast you figured that out?” Monica giggled. “Now, if you would do that at school, you wouldn’t have a C+ in Basic Critical Thinking.” J-C shot her the death glare, and she hid behind me, though she still giggled like a crazy thing. I smiled at her warmly, and she blushed, burying her face in her jacket.

“Alright, next!” I shouted, calling the room back to attention. “This caption says: _Timid_ \--”

“Elliott!” Everyone, including the jinxed twins, shouted, cutting me off. Then we all laughed as Elliott blushed and pouted. I pat my doppelganger’s back.

“You’ve got to admit, buddy;” I laughed. “You are the most timid person we know.” He huffed, but then he smiled, pulling from his pocket a bright red patch. In white letters, the patch read: **Most Appreciated Animal Volunteer**. I remember him once telling me that he volunteered at the animal shelter every week for three years straight. He still volunteers, but now he’s only allowed to work with rabbits and baby animals because of some local child safety law.

“Britney, does that picture look anything like this?” I asked, holding up the patch.

“A little bit, yes.” She answered. “Let me hold it for a minute…” I handed her the red square of cloth, and she placed it on the book. The picture glowed bright green, and Elliott smiled brightly. Timmy edged toward the book and examined the next caption.

“Okay, guys;” he called. “It says: _Land Where Sun Does Rise and Land Where Sun Does Set Stand as One_. I can’t make heads or tails of this picture though.” Laura piped up.

“Well,” she began. “Japan is the Land of Rising Sun, and some people I know sometimes call China the Land of Setting Sun; I may never know why, but who cares? That ‘ _Stand as One_ ’ part is your problem.” Randy chuckled calmly and moved closer to her, making her blush slightly.

“If I remember correctly,” he mumbled quietly and somewhat darkly. “Your father is Chinese while your mother is Japanese.”

“Yes, yes, they are. What’s your point?”

“Wouldn’t that mean you’re like the Lands of the Sun in one?” A confused look came over Laura’s face as she pondered that question. Then, she smiled brightly and hugged Randy.

“You’re so smart.” She gushed, and he sneered. She examined the picture in the book and then went digging through her backpack. She pulled out an old, tattered notebook and began flipping through it.

“I was going to show you guys this old drawing notebook;” she explained. “A lot of these are from before I moved to America.” She placed the notebook on the table, showing us an adorable drawling of a Giant Panda and a Raccoon Dog holding paws and carrying picket signs that read ‘Peace for All in the Lands of Sun’. She carefully placed her notebook atop the dusty old book, saying that the picture in the book was a simple illusion; she has been known to think outside the box. The picture glowed bright pink, and we all hounded Laura to explain her crazy figuration of the puzzle. She laughed hysterically.

“It’s just a silhouette of my drawing upside-down.” She told us, and we all huffed out of pride.

I get the nagging feeling that you just might be getting tired of this. Well, as much as I’d love to tell you all the wacky antics of my insane misfit friends, I suppose I could tell you the next two and save the best scene for explaining.

The next caption said: _“Have Family, Will Travel”_ , which, after five minutes of debate, we finally realized was Randy. The picture, oddly enough, was an old section from his circus’s tightrope; he carries it with him for good luck or so he says. Said picture glowed deep blue, much like his eyes.

The second to last caption said…Well, we don’t know what it said because Timmy slapped his hand over it before the rest of us could read it; his face was bright red, and it looked as if he was going to cry. The picture, which he let us see, was an old baby blue scarf from his uncle when he left to join the army. He placed the scarf on the page, and the picture shone a slight golden color; but then he just left it sitting there. When I tried to move the long scarf, Timmy’s fist came down on my hand with the force of a sledgehammer; he blushed scarlet and ran off to the corner of the room. We decided as a whole not to invoke his spontaneous rage again.

Now, the last caption threw us for not just a loop, but a triple-axle, roller-coaster and/or Air Force One quality barrel roll.

“ _‘Naïve, Imaginative, Thoughtful, Excitable, Reading Impaired’_.” J-C read. “What the heck does that mean?!”

“Well, naïve kinda means uneducated;” Monica teased. “and Imaginative means--”

“Don’t you start with me, little girl!” J-C shouted, only making Monica laugh again.

“Something is definitely wrong with your girlfriend.” Randy murmured beside me, smirking as I blushed. While J-C and Monica began arguing, I stole a glance at the book, looking at the picture. I tell you, that picture didn’t make any sense either. It was three circles arranged like a lopsided triangle, and I’m not a particular fan of modern art. Although, looking at it from a certain angle, I suppose it did look a bit familiar; I just couldn’t place it. That’s when I noticed Keith out of the corner of my eye; he was sitting in the far corner of the room, cloaked in a blanket he’d pulled from his backpack, and facing the wall. I looked at Randy, who I know would tease me if I was to show concern for Keith’s reclusive ways, but he was engaged in solving the riddle, a situation that had escalated into a full group debate.

I approached Keith quietly, and I could hear him whispering to…himself?

“Hey, kid.” I greeted. He freaked, and that was putting it mildly!

“Ah! Don’t hit me; I wasn’t saying anything!” he shrieked, hiding under his blanket. Luckily for both of us, his outburst didn’t catch the others’ attention in the slightest. He realized himself that I wasn’t Randy and that I hadn’t heard a word he’d said, so he inched out from his hiding place like a spooked rabbit. He was blushing nervously and rocking on his heels.

“Sorry about that;” he chuckled shyly. “I thought only Randy would sneak up on me like that, and he has really good hearing.”

“It’s no problem;” I chuckled. “My sisters scare me like that all the time. So, what are you up to over here?” He picked up the piece of paper he’d been staring at, along with his skunk plush, which I believe he’d been talking to.

“I was helping Raphael write a letter to Questa, the squirrel that lives in my closet; I told him that he should ask someone else to help him, like Liza, Liza’s always ready to help. But he begged me to help, and how could I say no to my best friend?” I nodded in understanding; he had once told me that Raphael was “head-over-tail” in love with this Questa squirrel-girl, who just so happens to be another one of his acres of woodland animal plush toys. And Liza? Liza is Keith’s twin sister, who, along with Lionel’s twin, Julio, and Randy’s twin, Sylvia, is in St. Louis with Randy’s aunt.

“What does the letter say?” I asked, picking up the piece of paper. He lowered his head and instantly became sad overall.

“I don’t know…” he admitted tearfully, wiping his face. “I’ve never been able to read; the doctor says I’m dis--uh… dis--… dyslexic. I have to take these special classes at school and all this other stuff I hate.”

“Well,” I said, wrapping my arm around his shoulders reassuringly. “I’m sure that by the time you grow up, your dyslexia will just be an unfortunate memory.” Keith smiled, wiping his face again and hugging Raphael. As he did, I noticed something: Raphael’s third eye. The faux skunk’s eyes were arranged in a lopsided triangle.

_‘Reading Impaired’_ … I remembered, and then it clicked.

“Come on over here, Keith.” I encouraged, motioning the five-year-old toward the table. My friends were debating more fiercely than Taiwanese Parliament.

“Guys…” I called. “Guys!” I huffed and picked up my megaphone.

“Everybody shut the heck up!!” I shouted into it. Everybody got quiet and stared at me like I was insane (which I kinda am, ask my psychiatrist). “Ahem; after speaking with an outside source, I believe I’ve stumbled upon the answer to this vexing issue.”

“If Monica and Timmy couldn’t find an answer, what makes you think you did?” Elliott taunted, knowing that I wouldn’t bean him over the head…right now.

“Well,” I argued poignantly. “Monica is a giggly lunatic and Timmy’s in the corner over there; Keith here is actually my little source. I realized that he not only fits the riddle, but a familiar friend of his happens to fit this odd and slightly abstract picture.” It does pay to have a “debate team-worthy” vocabulary, seeing as how I finally got my people’s attention back; Even Timmy, who was still hiding in the corner of self-pity, looked up at me.

I gingerly took Raphael from Keith’s hold and placed him on the book. The odd triangle glowed with a royal purple, and Keith snatched the skunk doll into a fierce hug. He smirked at Randy.

“I told you Raphael was special!” he sneered. Randy chuckled and yanked him into a headlock, ruffling his hair until the static made it stand up.

Just then, Britney called out to us.

“That’s it!” she shouted happily. “That’s all the riddles! I finally finished this! Thanks so much you guys.”

“No problem;” I insisted. “This means we don’t have to die, right?” Britney laughed and eyed her trio of canines.

“Well…” she pondered, making us nervous. “Alright, ya’ll can live, but only because I like you guys.” We all smirked at her; she was gonna get it later. Britney eyed the book curiously, and, while avoiding contact with Timmy’s scarf, she turned the page.

“Look at this, kids!” she marveled, placing the book back on the table. On this page, all eleven pictures from the last page were arranged in a circle that took up the whole page. In the center of the circle was a sentence written in that unreadable language. My friends and I all glanced into each other’s eyes.

“So do we just pile our stuff on the page again?” Timmy asked, finally coming out of his corner.

“Well, that’s what I would think,” Britney suggested. “but what about this sentence? It’s the only one on the page, so it must have some meaning. I just wish I could read it…”

“Let me see!” Keith offered, reaching for the book.

“Kid, you can’t read the languages you know;” J-C challenged. “We don’t even know what language this is!”

“It pays to think positive, Jefferson.” Keith had venom lining that sentence and pure malice in his eyes; J-C was taken aback. The five-year-old studied the sentence carefully.

“ _‘When Eleven Forces Come Together, Work as Friends, Stand as One’_.” He translated effortlessly, astonishing us all. We were all speechless, but Keith smiled, knowing we would be praising him if we weren’t so stunned. When that feeling passed, we all placed our things on the page, arranged in the circle like the pictures. The entire page glowed a blinding white, and an explosive wave of energy knocked us all to the floor. I recovered first and went to inspect the book; a new sentence was there, in English.

“Guys!” I called nervously. “I think we’ve got a new problem…” The book read: _You are all in grave danger._


	7. Chapter 6

Maize’s ears twitched as she looked into the window.

“Those kids are pretty quirky,” she commented. “and most of them seem a mite off-kilter.”

“No kidding;” Valentine smirked. “They argue more fiercely than over-caffeinated congressmen. Even so, they have the Ancient Red Text of Hexal, and they’ve matched all the Destiny Symbols; we should scan them to see if they meet the last standard. Time to do your thing, kitten.”

“Stop calling me ‘kitten’.” Maize pressed her pink nose to the window, and her silvery eyes glowed. She slowly and thoroughly looked around the basement through the window before pulling away.

“It’s official: every human in that room is radiated. This is one for the record books, Valentine.”

“I agree, love; what do you think Mistress will say?”

“I think we should report back to the Spider Keeper and Dragonfly Huntress before we think about that. Did ya’ll hear all that?!” she was calling up into the tree they were under. Her four kittens poked their heads from the foliage and nodded.

“Right then;” Valentine sighed. “Six-Star, Move out! We’ve got work to do!” The family of felines fled from the yard and ran all the way back to their teammates’ house.

“Six-Star’s on the move, Trevor.” Fillmore reported, setting down his binoculars. “I think they were just foraging again.”

“They were hanging around there pretty long;” Trevor acknowledged. “Mayhap we should scope that house sometime.” Fillmore nodded in agreement. Trevor sighed, playing with his green glasses and looking over at Zachary, who sat on the floor, fiddling with a pair of broken glasses. He was nervous to even get near the Venom Chameleon, considering how it was no secret that Trevor had been the one to crack him with the tire iron. He was sure that Zachary had exacted his revenge when he’d punched him in the face and broke his brown glasses earlier that afternoon. Ever since then, he’d been quiet.

“Uh, Zachary, what are you doing?” Trevor asked. Zachary looked up calmly and smiled, tossing the newly repaired glasses into Trevor’s hands. The tall man got to his feet and walked away, ruffling Trevor’s hair as he passed.

“Is he acting weird?” The Heartless Angel asked, admiring Zachary’s work on his brown specs. “Or is it just me?” Fillmore shrugged.

“You don’t know Zackie like the rest of us do.” He said calmly. “He calms down like that when people get tough and show they aren’t afraid of him. Wait ‘til Saturday; he’ll be all rough-and-tumble again.”

“Ah, yes; Saturday…” Trevor had that day all figured out, or so he hoped. When the believers morph into their believer forms, he and his team would be there to catch them. They wouldn’t escape, especially since they’d be in too much shock to do anything. He sneered; the tortures and experiments the Kalman Brothers had come up with for them were almost criminal.

“Trevor, Melanie’s back!” Zachary called from the hall as Melanie strolled into the room.

“Look at this!” she squealed, holding out a small book of four tickets. “The clerk at the convenience store gave me these concert tickets while I was picking up groceries. They say the performance is at the school on Halloween night!”

“Melanie…” Trevor sighed patiently. “You do know we have a job to do on Halloween, right?”

“B-But Trevor, everyone in Cincinnati will be there; I’m sure at least some of the believers will show up. And just one will eventually lead to all; we’re used to that strategy, cousin.”

“I know, but I was hoping we could change it up this time. You know, just for variety.”

“I don’t know, Trevor;” Fillmore chimed in, reading the print on the tickets. “It says here that the concert is produced and performed by a local group called ‘RetroSpot’; I hear they’re famous in this area. Apparently, they specialize in old-school music and high-quality theatrics.”

“That sounds fun, right Trevor?” Melanie encouraged. “You love disco!” Trevor chuckled, messing with his hair and thinking about it.

“Well…” he considered it. “Zachary, do you want to go?” Zachary strolled out of the shadows and smirked, leaning his elbow on Trevor’s head.

“What the Royals don’t know won’t hurt us, I always say.” He chuckled. “I think we should go.” He ruffled Trevor’s hair again, knocking off his hat; the Heartless Angel laughed.

“Am I hallucinating?” Melanie giggled, leaning on Fillmore’s shoulder. “Are they actually getting along?! They were threatening to kill each other just this morning.” She and Fillmore laughed…that is until Melanie convulsed in pain.

“Millie! Are you all right?” Fillmore asked in great concern. She nodded painfully, but stayed sitting on the floor.

“Have you told Trevor yet?” Fillmore asked in a whisper. Melanie’s head drooped with guilt, and her secret lover sighed. He couldn’t keep this secret much longer; it was tearing them apart. He picked up his binoculars again and looked out the window. Across the street and two houses to the right, he saw eleven children standing in the front yard of a house with brightly-colored flowers outlining it. Something was very strange about those kids, and he was sure he knew what; the one that caught his attention was the girl surrounded by three large dogs. She waved goodbye to the other ten and began walking down the sidewalk in their direction.

“Yo, Trevor!” he called, and Trevor joined him at the window. “There’s a little girl walking home all by herself.” He pulled a device resembling a police radar gun from the floor and aimed it at the child; after scanning her, he nodded confidently to Trevor. The young girl had the same DNA signature as one of the eleven they were searching for.

“Are you up for a quick chase?” the Heartless Angel asked. Fillmore smirked.

“Now or never, I always say.” He snickered. He and Trevor ran out to the hall, down the stairs and to the foyer. When they opened the front door, they saw the girl, along with her trio of canines, on the sidewalk across the street, tying her shoe; a skateboard was laying wheels-up on the cement beside her.

“A skateboarder;” Fillmore noted. “Not the most ladylike activity I can think of, but interesting all the same.” Trevor shrugged and chuckled.

The dogs must have heard them; the smallest one, a Rottweiler, looked straight at them and snarled, baring all his teeth.

“Sprinkles, what--” the girl began but cut herself off when she saw them watching her. They smirked and advanced on her ominously. The girl flipped over her skateboard and took hold of her dogs’ leashes. She kept one foot on her board as these two strange men towered over her.

“Well, hi there, kid!” Trevor greeted, ignoring the viciously snarling dogs that were beginning to surround him. The girl kept her eye on Fillmore, seeing as how he wasn’t speaking. She watched nervously as he inspected her skateboard, mainly the wheels, but he smiled calmly at her, taking her guard down just a bit. She brought her eyes back to Trevor just in time to see him say:

“Get her…” they pounced at her, and time seemed to slow down.

“Men, Forward!” She shouted. She quickly brought her foot onto her board as her dogs ran forward, yanking her out of the line of attack. Though slightly astonished at her managing to escape, not to mention the speed at which those dogs could pull her, Trevor and Fillmore gave chase, following her down the sidewalk and through the suburb. 


	8. Chapter 7

Britney looked back; those two men were gaining on her even though they were on foot. She grew scared; her dogs were running as fast as they could, and her wracked nerves were making her lose her balance on her skateboard. She decided to go for broke, and she pulled a small bag from her pocket and dumped the contents on the ground. She looked back just in time to see them slip and fall to the concrete.

“Company, halt!” she ordered, and the three dogs skidded to a stop. She watched the two strangers struggle to get to their feet.

“Marbles…Really?!” the man in the striped sweater fumed, picking up his hat. Britney smiled to herself and pointed across the street.

“Cross at the corner and about-face!” she ordered. Her trio bounded down the sidewalk, across the street, and back up the other sidewalk with her in tow, leaving the two men stumbling in their spot. She swore right then that she would never walk home alone again. There was something especially strange about those two; she couldn’t place it, but she wasn’t stopping to find out.

“Double-Time!” she shouted, and the trio of dogs accelerated into the sunset. She thought she should go back to Travis’s house and call her parents to come get her.

“Did you see that?! That’s one of the kids from that house!” Kix called to his mother, and she nodded, flopping down on the branch she and the rest of Six-Star had perched on. She watched the young girl roll down the sidewalk behind her dogs.

“Certainly not a method I would have thought of.” She commented. “But too creative for a normal human to think of that quickly, especially under such stress.” She gripped the branch with her claws to keep from falling.

“This tree could do great with thicker branches, eh Mom?” Ginseng chuckled.

“We wouldn’t be in the tree if we’d checked in with the girls before they went to go babysit.” Mordecai griped. “We probably would’ve caught them if we hadn’t begged that old lady to give us that bowl of milk.”

“Wait a second!” Valentine shouted. “Let me see the note again!” Mordecai nodded to Daisy, who held up the piece of paper they’d found taped to the welcome mat at their teammates’ house.

“‘Gone to babysit; if you need us, meet us at this address…’” Valentine read. The address was written in HexScript, Hexalia’s ancient written language. Maize translated the address for her mate and family.

“Wait;” Daisy mumbled with the paper still in her teeth. “Isn’t that the address where we saw those kids?”

“Excellent memory, sweetie!” Maize praised, standing up. “Six-Star; Move Out! Follow that girl!” The six cats dropped from the tree and sped up the sidewalk after the girl on the skateboard.

As they trotted up the concrete walk, keeping close eye on the girl they were tailing, Maize noticed something that scared all nine lives out of her. Trevor stood across the street, a tranquilizer gun on his shoulder, aimed directly at the small girl. The shot was silent, and the girl suddenly dropped to the sidewalk. Her dogs barked at her and pushed her head and arms with their noses as Trevor and Fillmore advanced on them.

“Should we stop them?” Kix asked, summoning the strength and brazen to fight the infamous Hexalians.

Maize watched as the Heartless Angel glanced at her and sneered as he and Fillmore carried away the unconscious child while dragging her three dogs by their leashes. “It’s too late; we follow.” With that, Six-Star now tailed the two kidnappers.


	9. Chapter 8

It was about 5:30 in the evening, and we hadn’t seen Britney since she went home yesterday. When she wasn’t in school today, we figured she was still getting settled in her house. My friends and I sat in front of the television in the living room as my parents and grandmother walked by.

“You’re leaving now?” I asked from my position on the floor.

“Yep, and we’re leaving you guys all alone.” My dad said sarcastically. As if on cue, there was a knock at the door. When my dad opened it, there stood a redhead with blue glasses in her thirties and her raven haired older sister.

“Good evening, George;” the redhead greeted, stepping into the house. “Of course, I guess you could call it night.” She acknowledged how the sky was dark at such an early time. She can be so weird sometimes.

“I agree, Susan;” my mom chuckled. “Now, hopefully, the PTA meeting doesn’t last too long, but if it does, Travis is to be in bed by ten o’clock. The rest of the kids called their parents and all of them should be gone by 9:30 or 9:45. They’ve had dinner so they can have dessert, but make sure they don’t get into the ice cream again.”

“Not after what happened last time, Jeanine; you do not have to worry about that.” The raven-haired women nodded. My mom came over and kissed my forehead.

“Be good, Firestorm;” She instructed sternly. “If I find any scorch marks on the walls again, you are in for it.” I nodded, but I had my fingers crossed in my pocket. She ruffled my hair before she, Dad, and Granny left. The two women took off their coats and hung them in the closet before sitting on the couch behind us.

“So, how’s tricks, everybody?” the redhead asked, smoothing Elliott’s hair.

“We met the new girl on the block yesterday, and she showed us a weird book with red writing.” I explained; Monica nudged me, giving me the ‘Shut Up’ look. The women exchanged a look, and the redhead whispered in her sister’s ear.

“Susan, calm down; we can’t talk about that here.” The elder sister mumbled.

“But Janice--” Susan argued, only to have her sister silence her.

“Sorry about that, Travis.” Ms. Janice apologized when she saw my curious look. “We’ve been thinking about getting the house redecorated, but we can’t agree on a theme.” Susan huffed.

“Like he’ll buy that jive…” she scoffed under her breath, resulting in Janice elbowing her in her ribs. These two characters are known around the city as the Reynolds Sisters; the redhead, Susan, is the outgoing one who runs our scout troop: the Cincy Scouts, the Martial Arts class my friends and I go to, and our gymnastics class. Janice is Susan’s adopted older sister, and she’s more of the housewife type; she does most of the shopping and cooking in their house. She often assists Susan with all her odd jobs, and both of them work as secretaries at our school, so we see them quite often.

“So…” Susan murmured, rubbing her side and changing the subject. “I hear that RetroSpot is making a performance on Saturday.” We nodded.

“I think it’s for some Halloween concert.” Monica said, winking at me. I smirked; the Reynolds Sisters like to tease us.

“Will you kids be there?”

“Of course;” Keith shouted. “RetroSpot is a famed local group! They perform at our school all the time; Ms. Wayne would probably make us go regardless.” Randy punched his back and chuckled.

“It wouldn’t surprise me, shorty.” He sneered. The rest of us smiled and nodded, thinking about all the other things our good principal has forced us into over the years.

“Now children; Ms. Wayne is an okay lady.” I insisted, earning a curious glance from all my friends. “I mean, when we got that kickball stuck in the tree, we only got what, a month’s detention?” My friends giggled, throwing pillows at me. There are times when they only laugh to humor me.

It had been half an hour since the Reynolds Sisters had shown up and not much had happened; we were still sitting in front of the television, even as it began to rain outside. Monica was half asleep on my shoulder, one of the few times she’s been so close to me without going through my pockets. Suddenly, we heard a knocking at the door.

“Who’s gonna get it?” Everybody sang in my direction. I nudged Monica awake and pointed at the door. She groaned and went to open it; we all flinched when we heard her scream.

“Travis!!” Monica shrieked; and of course I (along with my overprotective friends) rushed to her side. We gasped in horror; on the porch, Britney sat there, unconscious. She was tied to a chair with her dogs’ leashes, with the dogs still attached to them! They were whining and standing at odd angles on their hind legs, and they were muzzled. A note was safety-pinned to her shirt, and I pulled it off as J-C and Randy carried Britney and her so-called bodyguards into the house.

“I hope she’s all right.” Monica worried as she pulled Britney’s skateboard and backpack from the bushes.

“I hope we’ll all be all right.” I worried, showing her the writing on the note: ‘ _We’ll be watching you_ ’. Monica shivered, clinging to me nervously; I stood by her and scanned the area around my house with my eyes until I heard a hurt, tired mewl. Monica and I looked around the yard while the twins watched us to make sure we weren’t kidnapped.

“Guys!” she called from the hedges by the fence. “Come help me with this!” The twins and I ran over to Monica and helped her pull a metal cage from under the hedge. Inside of it, a blanket was covering something that moved restlessly. Another note was pinned to the blanket with the same handwriting: ‘ _This is for your friends, who think they’re watching us_ ’. Another helpless mewl came from the cage, prompting us to carry it inside and out of the cold rain. There was water dripping off the metal cage, and a small paw with wet, matted fur reached out from under the blanket, weakly gripping my sleeve with its claws; Monica looked at me nervously as another mewl came from the cage.

Inside, Britney had regained consciousness and was crying against Timmy’s chest.

“It was terrible!” she cried. “They kept asking me all these weird questions about some Text of Hexal or whatever! They were torturing my guards and a big scary man yelled at me and hit me with something! I passed out, so they just dumped me here, I guess. I saw them trying to drown some little animals!” Timmy nodded carefully as she continued to cry. Sprinkles whined and rested his head in her lap pitifully; Colonel and Sergeant hung their heads in shame for not protecting their master.

All the while, Susan and Janice listened with looks of pure fear, if not horror. I looked at them almost accusingly; had they known who did this to Britney? Susan looked at me nervously, mainly eyeing the cage in my hands. She gasped and approached me, lifting the metal container from my grasp. She examined the cage and the note with fear in her eyes.

“Janice…” she whimpered, unlatching the cage door as she set it on the table. “You don’t think…” Whatever she feared must have been real, as she all but screamed at what she saw after removing the blanket. There were six cats, four of them being strangely colored; they were soaked to the marrow and shivering violently. The largest one, his fur being orange, sneezed and coughed before struggling to his feet. He nudged the charcoal black cat, which was just an inch shy of meeting his height, and she stretched before immediately beginning to lick her paws. Meanwhile, the smaller, oddly colored cats awoke and huddled around the orange on for warmth; Not one of them even thought to come out of the cage. It didn’t take veterinarians for us to tell that the black and orange cats were the parents; however, it would probably take more than vets to tell us where their kittens got their fur colors: blue, green, pink, and canary yellow. The parents glanced around the room almost frantically, scanning each of our faces individually with their eerily human-like eyes. As their little heads moved, I could see their collars; each band matched the wearer’s fur, and there were three tags attached to each one. Eventually, they stopped giving us the scary eyes, and the orange cat nudged his mate with his still wet paw. She shivered a bit before she crawled out of the cage, walking across the blanket, which had been left on the table, and sitting in front of Susan.

“Spider Keeper,” she said in straight English, and my friends and I were too stunned to make a sound. “We have a serious problem.” 


	10. Chapter 9

The six cats stayed close to the Reynolds Sisters, talking in a quiet whisper that we didn’t understand. The sisters would nod, but their facial expressions grew more and more dismal.

“This can’t be happening…” Susan whimpered, tears in her eyes. Janice was now standing at the window, staring out at the rain. She suddenly spun around and savagely punched the couch cushion; she glanced at us sadly before turning back to her little sister.

“We might as well tell them;” she insisted. “Before these psychos hurt them.”

“No, let us tell them.” The black cat volunteered. She approached me and cautiously placed a paw on my knee. When I didn’t move to stop her, she hopped into my lap and flopped on my leg.

“My name is Maize, humans; Gather ‘round, kiddies,” she called to my friends, and they obeyed with little hesitation. “And I’ll spin you a marvelous yarn. It starts about 250 years ago with your ancestors; on a small planet distant from here, your previous incarnates fought a harsh war with a race known as Hexalians. With those eleven incarnates, a militia of 200 warriors was formed. They conquered all armies that challenged them, from the somewhat docile Red Eyes of Hexalia Minor to the fierce, destructive Superiors of Hexalia Major. One day however, the Hexalians wised up to the Humans’ game, and the ten Hexalian armies joined forces and ambushed your incarnates in a vast meadow in the mountains of Hexalia Major now known as the ‘Believers’ Final Stronghold’. Few survived, and those who did were taken away and tortured slowly and harshly to a sad, pitiable death. I recall the leader’s last words vividly: ‘You cannot keep our forces down! The Believers will rise again! And our spirits shall always believe!’ I remember he died after those words, and he and his comrades were buried in the meadow with their fallen militia. My family and I blessed their graves and shed tears over them for days on in. A sad week that was, but it’s far, far behind us and the Hexalian race. In fact, many Hexalians don’t discuss the war anymore, and have therefore forgotten all about it. In those past two-and-a-half centuries, the Hexalians have been free to conquer areas of your planet while it was defenseless. As of the birthdays of each of you children, along with yesterday, when you became a whole, the Believers are officially reincarnated. It’s up to you children to stop the invaders and take back your planet.” The black cat sighed and snuggled into my knee, finally taking a breath from telling her story. “I hope you got all that, because I can’t repeat it. Whether or not you did, I want you to bear in mind: When you do assume your positions as Believers, know that like on Earth, not all Hexalians want to fight; in fact, you may need to rely on them for help.”

“So,” J-C questioned, raising his hand, “You’re saying that the people who our ancestors attacked and we _children_ have to fight now are just going to help us?”

“Well, not all of them, of course. You may not realize it, but you’ve already been relying on them for years.” Monica shyly raised her hand.

“I’m going to just guess,” she murmured nervously, hugging Britney protectively. “But were the people who kidnapped Britney Hexalian?” Maize’s eyes dimmed slightly, with either sadness or motherly pity.

“Yes;” she sighed, crawling from my lap and climbing onto Britney’s shoulder. “They figured out that you have a Believer’s DNA signature. They probably thought you knew something about your past, so they took you. They took us because we were following them. All the while, when they were dunking us in their pool, I noticed them trying to open that backpack of yours; I must note, hopefully without sounding offensive, that I don’t know anyone so paranoid to keep a padlock on their bag.” The young Egyptian girl blushed slightly, but nodded.

“I guess it is a little much…” She agreed. “But I like to keep my stuff safe.” Maize nodded, looking toward the bag in question curiously. 

“Where’s the key for this lock anyway?” she asked, sniffing the metal latch. Britney giggled shyly, blushing again.

“I lost it…” she muttered, and Maize sighed. “I can still open it though; Watch!” She pulled a hair pin from one of her pigtails and used it to pick the lock in less than ten seconds. As she sparred with her wildly frizzy, pink-and-red-dyed hair to get the pin back in, Maize pawed at the large book in her backpack, somehow managing to make it fall out. She opened the book with her nose and quickly flipped through pages. She called for our attention as she reached the page with the pictures and riddles. She pressed her paw to the page, and the pictures glowed with the same colors they did yesterday.

“These pictures are called Destiny Symbols;” she informed us. “By matching the pictures and silhouettes to physical objects, you’ve proven that you are the ones whose destinies are to become the believers.” She went into another speech about how for all the previous incarnates of the Believers, they were all at least college age and the Destiny Symbols showed objects that were indeed from their childhood: stuffed animals, old clothes, and other toys. She said we were lucky we’d found the book while we were still young, seeing as how it created a higher chance of us having the objects in the Symbols.

“By the way, Britney;” she quizzed with a look of anger and ferocity in her silver eyes. “Where exactly did you get this book?!” We all turned our attention to the young Egyptian girl; we hadn’t thought about where she’d gotten this crazy book.

“I don’t know, I swear!” Britney insisted, clearly intimidated by having us cross-examine her like this. “My brother gave it to me three years ago and told me to guard it with my very life! He never told me where he got it or why he had it.” Maize nodded, seeming to understand the situation. She continued to read the book while we waited for her to speak again. As she read, the large orange cat approached me and sniffed curiously at my hands and clothes.

“You smell like you’ve been cooking over a fire or something…” he observed, twitching his left ear and pacing around me. “I bet you go around setting things on fire, don’t you? Such a phenomena: a nine-year-old pyromaniac… Tsk, tsk, young human.” The only other person that had ever just been so blunt about my…issues is my psychiatrist (and I have physically attacked that guy before). To hear such a remark from some alien cat did in fact make my blood boil.

“Valentine,” Maize called to him before I could hurt him, “I told you: don’t mock humans about their psychological flaws.”

“I wasn’t mocking him;” Valentine protested. “If you had let me finish, kitten, you’d know that I was praising him. I find pyromania and pyrotechnics as interesting subjects.”

“You only say that because you can breathe fire…” The orange cat winked at me and puffed a fireball onto the tip of his tail, which was apparently fireproof as he held it up like a torch. As he strutted around the living room floor, Janice stepped on his tail, putting out the flame. Feeling forlorn, Valentine crawled onto my lap and curled into a ball on my knee. I silently stroked his ears, making him purr quietly and thump his tail on my leg. His kittens wandered around the carpet, slipping into our laps or under the couch; one of them seemed to be admiring the plant in the corner of the room (and by admiring, I mean eating the leaves).

“Guys!” Maize called to her family. “Six-Star, don’t tear up people’s houses unless I say to!” she looked at us and began reading again as her kittens joined our circle around the book. She smiled as she found a page.

“Okay kittens,” she called, referring to me and my friends. “Listen while I translate… It says here: ‘Like young children, the believers will be weak and somewhat naïve to their abilities and the abilities of their opponents; this, if and when applied to individual weaknesses amongst the believer troop, can often result in an easy capture of them.’”

“Who says children are weak?!” J-C and Monica ranted, their first time agreeing on anything since Sunday. Maize held up a paw for silence; she smiled warmly as we gave up our attention again.

“I’ve seen you kids; you aren’t weak, and that’s a fact. But think about really young kids: something by ways of a toddler perhaps. They usually haven’t taken the crazy Martial Arts classes you have. The planet Hexalia actually came to be at the exact same second as the planet Earth, which makes our timelines nearly the same; Hexalian legends say that the Hexal Texts have existed for all of eternity, but they weren’t discovered on the planet until the early 1500s. We believe that the Texts were all written by the Gods as a prophecy to tell us how to form our lives. No one really knows how it happened, but people stopped caring about the prophecies around the 1600s and focused instead on the sections on the Believers. I was just a little stray kitten then, so no one bothered to tell me about it; but I think that’s when the believers first appeared on Earth to fight them. Another legend states that about three-fourths of the humans on Earth were Believers, but they had no idea how to use their powers. Most of them were killed off, and the survivors went into hiding; over the centuries, times changed, babies were born, and with each passing generation, the Believers would learn how to use their powers. Soon, the Hexalians were in for an actual fight, and they began losing warriors to the humans. The armies grew tired of losing, so they joined together: making peace treaties and alliances to defeat the humans. However, after the deaths of your previous incarnates, the Hexalians began to drift from each other; the peace treaties were destroyed and lost forever in the sea of history, and it’s been like this for 250 years.”

I made the mistake of yawning (Was it my fault that her history lecture was boring?), and Maize glared at me, snarling. I looked away sadly; that was the same look my teacher gave me when I fell asleep during her lectures. However, I couldn’t resist laughing as I looked around the room; The Reynolds Sisters, Monica, Keith, Riley, Timmy, and even Maize’s family were all fast asleep, and everyone else was struggling to stay awake. Maize and I laughed hysterically until she shushed me. Watch this, she mouthed. She took a very deep breath, and the roared a loud lion’s roar, effectively scaring everyone awake and possibly breaking our eardrums.

“Long story short:” she chuckled as we returned to attention. “The Hexalian armies are no longer working as one, nor do they have the desire to; I think you have a better chance of beating them now than ever.” That part, we could understand, so we nodded.

“Very good, kittens!” she praised us for finally listening to her; she looked to her family. “Six-Star, fan out! Pick the human you want to hang with; Valentine?”

“I’ll go where you go, love.” He answered, still sprawled out on my leg.

“Kix, what’s your call?”

“I’ll go with this girl…” the blue kitten called, purring as he nuzzled Monica’s side.

“Ginseng?”

“I’ve got the twins, Mother!” the green kitten nodded, wagging her tail while Riley stroked her back.

“Daisy? Mordecai?”

“I’ll stay with him;” the pink kitten, Daisy, responded, placing her paw on Elliott’s knee.

“I’ve got this kid!” The yellow kitten finished, poking Keith’s hand with his nose.

“And I’m staying with Travis;” Maize announced.

“Awesome!” Valentine shouted. “I’ll get to see Travis torch something!” I glared at him as my friends snickered.

“If you’re not careful, it’ll probably be you.” Maize chuckled, placing a paw on my hand as if to calm me. “Besides, Val, I’d feel better if you stayed with Britney; someone has to protect her in case those characters decide to make another appearance.” Valentine’s ears folded, but then he briskly licked Maize’s face and ran to Britney’s side. Maize shook her head and looked around, nodding as her eyes passed each of us.

“You kids have school tomorrow, yes?” she asked. “When you get home, I suggest you get a good sleep. You need to be on full alert in case someone else gets taken…”

We got to ask Maize and her family, who go by the group name Six-Star, a ton of questions about their planet and the Hexalians. She ignored more questions than she answered, saying that sometimes it’s better to learn by experience. Eventually, my friends started to leave, the first being Britney; when the doorbell rang and Susan answered; David stood there, a look of concern on his face.

“I got your call;” he told Susan. “Is she here?” Our babysitter pointed to our group, and Britney’s eyes lit up when she saw her brother.

“You little runt!” he scolded as he hugged her deathly tightly. “I ought to kill you after making me worry like that! I had to trick Mom and Dad into thinking you were sick in bed to keep them from panicking!”

“I’m sorry…” Britney sighed as she and her dogs hung their heads in shame. He smirked and ruffled her hair; His eyes trained on Valentine, who was resting on Britney’s shoulder, but he didn’t seem to care about the feline.

“I hope you learned something about Stranger Safety, kid…” he chuckled as he and Britney left into the night with three black dogs trailing behind.

By 9:30, my friends were gone, the Reynolds Sisters were gone, and I was in the dark of my room, lying in bed, and suffering from insomnia. Maize was sleeping beside me in my bed, snuggled tightly against my stomach; she purred loudly, stretching before curling into a tight ball of black fur.

_“…Be on full alert in case someone else gets taken.”_ Maize’s words echoed in my skull; was it a good idea to sleep if there was a risk of getting kidnapped? I wondered how she could sleep so peacefully. All this stuff about being a “Believer” had me getting less sleep than usual; I yawned loudly on purpose, and Maize kicked my stomach.

“Shut up kid…” she groaned. “I’ll talk to you in the morning…” I sighed disappointedly and, finally, fell asleep.


	11. Chapter 10

The next morning was cold, and as my posse and I walked Britney to school, we passed a house with a blue SUV in front of it. It didn’t have Ohio plates, and I couldn’t recognize the number on the back plate. I noticed a curious look on Monica’s face; she has a photographic memory, and if she doesn’t recognize something, that means it’s probably new. Probably suspicious…

“Britney?” I asked, turning around, “Is this the house you mentioned?” I realized she wasn’t listening, and when I noticed her cowering behind Ray, I decided it would be best to keep walking. Just before we did, we heard the door open. A young man in a striped sweater strolled out carrying a watering can; he wore white jeans and a black beret, along with a pair of brown-framed glasses that barely balanced on his nose. I could see Britney hiding behind the twins, and I eyed that character knowingly; he was the one who’d kidnapped Britney…

“Keep walking; don’t make eye contact with him.” Maize advised from my jacket pocket, and we agreed it was best to listen. As we continued, I looked back against Maize’s warning; Not my best idea, I’ll tell you that much.

He looked up, his crimson eyes meeting my emerald ones; a cruel smirk spread across his face, and he pointed at Britney, winking at me deviously. So, he knew she was with us…

I felt Maize’s teeth clamp on my ear.

“What did I tell you?!” she snapped at me, now perched on my shoulder. “He knows now!”

“What does he know?” I asked nervously. She glared at me: the “pay attention” look.

“He knows that you know that he’s the one who kidnapped Britney, and that means you would have been the ones to open the door at the house where he dumped her yesterday; since the police haven’t come after him yet, he knows you didn’t tell anyone. That makes it easier for him to get away with another attack like this! Next time, he may take someone of a higher power!” If only Maize had known how right she was…


	12. Chapter 11

“School sucks” I scribbled on my notebook as our teacher, Ms. Kallen, went on teaching herself how to multiply two-digit numbers. Usually, Mondays are like this: no one’s listening, and she’d be better off trying to teach a flock of pigeons these things; but today was Tuesday. There was normally a better focus in our class(not much better, but still). This Tuesday was an exception though; Halloween was at the end of the week, and that always got us riled up. A ball of paper hit the side of my head, followed by three to my face when I looked up.

“Yo, Malone,” the assailant in the desk beside me whispered. “What are you gonna be for Halloween?” I smiled at my neighbor; he was always talking about upcoming events, and he hated talking about the past.

“I’m gonna be busy.” I answered jokingly. He chuckled, shaking his head.

“You kill me, shorty;” He laughed quietly. “We’re still on for the concert, right?” I nodded, looking around the room. I noticed Randy poking Kathy Wilkins on the back of her neck with his pencil, smirking when she kept flinching. When she finally looked at him, he whispered in her ear, and she nodded, smiling brightly. Randy gave me a thumbs-up; another one was attending the concert.

As ten minutes passed, I realized that Ms. Kallen was still talking. Jasper had punched my shoulder, mouthing: You fell asleep again! I began to wonder what teacher lady was talking about, but then I remembered that I didn’t really care (Yeah, that’s not gonna haunt me later).

“I’m so bored…” I whispered to my closed desk.

“At least you aren’t crammed in a desk…” the furniture spoke back. Just kidding; Maize lifted the lid of my desk enough to poke her head out.

“Well, look who it is!” Jasper called quietly, holding out his hand. “Maize Whiskins, how’s the family?” Maize purred, sneaking out of my desk and across the carpet to Jasper’s.

“You know her?” I asked him.

“Long story; I’ll tell you later.” He answered; that just so happens to be the answer to nearly every question I ask him.

“Okay, class;” Ms. Kallen finally said, and we all returned to attention (Maize ducked into Jasper’s desk) as if we’d been that way the whole time. Teacher was smiling slyly, usually meaning she knew we’d been off focus.

“Who can solve this problem?” She pointed to a long division problem she must have written while I was sleeping.

“C’mon kids, I gave you ten minutes to work it out.” She taunted; yep, definitely while I was sleeping. A collective groan rang from the class; we were busted.

“Well, then,” Ms. Kallen declared. “If no one can answer it, we’ll have a quick worksheet to review.” Another groan came from the class; that is, until we noticed a raised hand at the front of the room.

“Yes, ma’am?” Teacher asked, pointing to the girl.

“5,732.” The student answered and Ms. Kallen smiled.

“Nice job, Britney,” she praised, “and on your first day! You just saved the class from extra math work.” We all applauded the new girl, except for Matthew, the class bully, who scoffed as if he could have answered the question. Britney can think pretty fast, and she was sweet enough to save us from ourselves and our laziness. She’ll be pretty popular around here; at least until people realize she hangs out with me and my gang. Popularity can be painful…

An hour later, at recess, we took Britney to playground and showed her the chin-up bar near the swing set. She looked at us like we were insane, but Monica promised to go up with her. She finally nodded, and we helped the girls up to the bar, where they dangled upside-down for no real reason.

“How is it?” Monica asked, holding onto her hat so it, along with Corazon, whom she could always sneak into the school, wouldn’t fall.

“It’s kind of weird;” she admitted. “I think my head’s starting to hurt.” We quickly helped her down, patting her back as if that would fix a headache. That’s when Jasper ran over to us carrying a large binder and Maize on his shoulder.

“All right, Believers, Maize tells me you guys are investigating a suspicious character;” He smirked. “She told me to lend a hand or two, and maybe a book.” He told us to sit in the field with him while he scanned pages in the file.

“I’m in so much trouble…” he muttered. “They’re going to kill me for taking this thing…” He finally found whatever page he wanted and showed it to us. There were several pictures of that character wandering around in different places.

“That’s him.” Maize told us, pawing at the file. “This is Trevor Bansel, kittens, and he’s oodles of fun!” --The venom-lined sarcasm was hard to miss--“This guy is no pushover, as your friend Britney must know.” Britney looked at the ground as if it interested her.

“Now, Six-Star and I aren’t exactly sure what the Red Eyes are up to,” Jasper explained. “But if they’ve gotten Trevor involved, it has to be big. That guy’s got a pretty good level on him: Top Hunting Agent. He’s mostly used to snare victims and torture the life out of them, only having a reason about 70% of the time. Britney; Reason?” The girl in question stared at her sneakers.

“Interrogation…” she muttered. Jasper nodded, looking down at the book. He studied the book like a college student would study their impossible homework; considering the fact that Jasper doesn’t even study our somewhat easy fourth-grader work, this did surprise us.

“Where there’s a goose, there’s bound to be goslings.” He stated, looking to Maize.

“Three to be precise.” The black cat added. She and Jasper continued talking, almost forgetting we were still around. Jasper looked up and around.

“Red Radiation…” He murmured, looking toward the City Hall clock tower in the distance. “That’s what starts it all…” He looked at us. “You kids have got about 4 days and 7 hours before you experience a cross between the most awesome moment and the worst curse of your lives…And it’s right in the middle of the concert!” We all flinched; if this horrible curse is going to happen right in the middle of the concert, this could spell so much trouble…


	13. Chapter 12

The week came and went like ice cream and pizza at a kid’s party. Trevor walked toward the school building on what could only be described as the perfect autumn Friday. He would fix that soon…

“Isn’t it glorious out today?” Trevor beamed, glancing at Zachary, who acted as if he wasn’t even there. Zachary huffed, looking away.

“You sure she’ll be alone?” the Venom Chameleon asked, glancing at the setting sun on the horizon. Trevor laughed at such cynicism.

“It’s nearly 6:30, Zackie!” He sneered, “No child would be within a mile of school this late after dismissal; especially on a Friday!” He flexed his fingers in his gloves; he knew he would enjoy this…

“I’m heading out, Carol!” Susan called to her employer, Principal Caroline Wayne. “See you tomorrow at the concert, right?” Caroline nodded, deciding to humor the spry woman by attending RetroSpot’s Halloween concert. Susan grinned and walked out with Janice in tow. Carol still had a few papers to look over: cross t’s, dot i’s; nothing too major for her. She glanced out the window knowingly; tonight’s work would probably go unfinished anyway…

Trevor looked up as a young redhead walked by, chatting to her raven-haired cohort. He could feel a small tingle in his cheeks as they burned a slight crimson. He couldn’t take his focus off the smiling and laughing woman. Zachary followed Trevor’s eyes and smirked. He shoved the Heartless Angel.

“You don’t get answers if you don’t ask.” He teased, sneering as the young agent blushed.

“Shut up!” The red-faced Hexalian shouted; Zachary just smirked and shook his head as he and Trevor walked into the school building.

Carol put down her pen, slightly surprised that she had finished all the paperwork; that was quite a rarity. She looked at her watch--6:37. She sensed a presence and nodded; It was time…

Suddenly, the door burst open, and Carol jumped from her chair in surprise. There were two men, and the taller of the two was suddenly, as if by magic, a hair’s breadth away from her, gripping her shoulders and pinning her to the wall. She didn’t struggle; she could feel that he was far stronger than her. Her voice caught in her throat as the smaller man sauntered toward her and her captor, adjusting his glasses.

“Loosen your grip, man!” He commanded. “You’re hurting the poor woman!” Carol realized that her captor had taken great notice in that his cohort had said ‘loosen’ and not ‘release’. When she could feel the blood flowing in her arm again, she found the courage to speak.

“What do you people want?” She asked, noting the gloves that both men wore on their hands; the colors and material were unmistakable. “Who are you?!” Like she really didn’t know…

“Oh!” the shorter one exclaimed, pressing a gloved hand to his chest, which was covered by a finely knit yellow-and-white striped sweater. “Where are my manners this evening? My name is Trevor Bansel; my friend there is Zachary. As you may be able to tell, he could easily do great damage to you, ma’am; in such a case I think it would be wise of you to cooperate and hear our wishes.” Carol knew full well that ‘wishes’ roughly translated to ‘demands’. 

“A-All right…” she stuttered as Zachary gave her just enough room to sit back at her seat while Trevor snapped his fingers and caused a laptop to materialize on her desk beside her paperwork. He turned it on, and Zachary playfully covered her eyes as he entered the password and located a secret file.

“Okay,” the spectacled man began, and Zachary allowed her sight. “We know that this school has at least 1200 students on roster, yes?” Carol nodded quickly; somewhat afraid of what might happen if she didn’t. Trevor smirked toward his cohort and continued, occasionally pointing to the slideshow playing on the laptop as he spoke.

“What we want is a way to be close to these kids to perform a little project on them. In order to accomplish such a feat, however, we will need you to turn over your position as principal to me.”

“You’re kidding, right?” Caroline found herself saying, a snort of disbelief following. “There’s no way I’d turn over my position, especially not to you creeps! I wouldn’t let you near those kids if you were bound, gagged, and in cages!” The men were unfazed by her rant; in fact, they smiled deviously at each other, and Zachary knelt behind her chair and gripped her shoulders, pinning her to her seat. Trevor, however, planted his hands on the desk and gave a cruel smile to Caroline.

“I heavily implore you to reconsider.” He snickered lowly, somewhat evilly. Carol’s blood ran cold, but she knew she had to stay strong.

“I refuse.” She repeated, trying, failing, to wrench herself from Zachary’s hold. Trevor giggled, and he snapped his fingers. About fourteen disembodied gloves identical to his appeared and hovered aimlessly around him, almost representing his aura.

“Go on;” He said to them. “Have at her. Make her smile; I want to see teeth here people!” Zachary released her and moved as the gloves swarmed her, and, you’ll never believe, tickled her.

“What is this?!” Carol shrieked, laughing hysterically.

“This, Caroline Wayne, is how Hexalians get what they want.” Trevor sneered, watching it take place with no sympathy for the young woman. “Now, again, will you willingly step down from your position?”

“G-Go jump in Lake Michigan!” Carol laughed back smartly.

“Pretty saucy for someone in your position…” Zachary chuckled, summoning his own swarm of gloves to aid in Carol’s torture. Carol was losing her mind, but one thing wouldn’t be lost: She couldn’t give up.

Trevor watched the clock as it showed 7:15. Nearly 45 minutes and Carol hadn’t given in? This didn’t sit well with him. Zachary was just as confused; Carol was clearly no ordinary woman.

“Again, love,” Trevor piped up over Carol’s hysterics. “I would suggest you give in; This can get real ugly, real fast. Carol couldn’t respond, she eyed the two men through teary, reddened eyes and mussed blonde hair as her tanned face grew redder from laughing so long.

“I-I won’t give!” she cried out. She couldn’t give up; she couldn’t! The kids’ safety was important to her. She would rather d--

Just like that, Carol’s laughter was broken up by many desperate gasps. Trevor shook his head as he realized what was happening. He snapped his fingers, and his gloves went into a frenzy, driving Carol further into her hysterics; Zachary looked at the young agent and realized why his codename was given to him. Trevor’s normally calm and unsuspicious face had changed to a heartless sneer, and as Carol’s laughter and gasping suddenly stopped and she slumped in her chair, Trevor walked over and leaned beside her lifeless head. He nodded once, then twice.

“Uh-huh;” He assessed. “I’ll tell him.”--He looked at Zachary with that evil smirk. “She gave in…” Trevor lifted Carol’s limp corpse to an upright position in her chair, snapping his fingers to dispel his swarm of gloves. He pushed the principal’s hair from her face, which was already losing color; his face bore an unreadable expression that gave Zachary a bit of fear of the young agent he once mocked. That is, until he and Trevor realized they sensed a presence. Two, to be exact…

Trevor pressed his ear to the door, listening for voices; and sure enough he heard one, and immediately recognized it.

“Hide; now!” He called to Zachary. As he and his assistant pressed themselves against the walls on either side of the door, the door opened and two young women walked in: the same redhead and raven-haired from earlier.

“Would you relax?” the redhead asked. “I just need to ask about this.”

“Susan, you know it’s not safe for us to be out after dark, especially now!” The raven-haired woman shot back, glancing absently over her shoulder. Her eyes locked with Trevor’s for a split second, and she snatched a shocked Susan’s arm, making a move for the door. Zachary immediately slammed it shut, cutting her off. She stopped and backed away; Susan clung to her back fearfully.

“Janice…” Susan was weeping into her protector’s jacket. “Carol’s dead!” The raven-haired woman looked back to see the corpse of one of her good friends in her chair: Put on display like some sick art project. She blinked back the tears in her eyes.

“You did this, didn’t you?!” She shouted at Zachary and Trevor as they stepped forward. Trevor nodded eagerly; as if happy he’d committed such a crime.

“Yes;” he spoke. “But it wouldn’t have happened if she’d just given in like a smart person.”

“What did she have that you creeps wanted?!” Susan piped up, crying, but just as angry.

“Why, her job, of course, love.” Trevor smirked, pacing around the duo. He gave Susan a swift poke in her side, making her flinch and giggle; He nodded, his smirk turning all the more evil. He locked eyes with Janice, who looked like she wanted nothing more than to strangle him right then, and quickly jabbed her stomach; she flinched, backing away. Trevor laughed, smiling at Zachary.

“You two work at this school, yes?” He asked, pacing around Carol’s desk.

“What of it?” Janice snarled, glaring fearlessly at Zachary, who was trying to size her up. He sharply poked her stomach, smirking as she laughed before she could catch herself.

“We need you two to make a few points to the students and faculty here; Starting with the fact that I’m the new principal.”

“You’re deranged!” Susan snapped, getting all into Trevor’s space. “You kill Carol, and you actually expect us to just turn over her position to you?! You probably don’t even know how to run a school!” Her cheeks burned with fury, while Trevor’s burned with shy passion; the scent of her perfume was cruelly teasing his nose, and he found himself speechless. Susan’s sky blue glasses glinted in the sunset coming through the window, making her eyes shimmer, only slightly assisted from the remnants of her earlier tears. Trevor could practically feel his brain shorting out.

He was brought back to reality when he saw Susan’s hand coming at his face at a good twelve miles per hour in his peripheral; of course, without thinking, hardly looking, he gripped her wrist and wrenched it behind her back, leaning over her shoulder.

“You’ll have to do better than that.” He teased in her ear. He shoved her back to Janice, who examined the redhead’s slightly bruised wrists. She stole a glance toward the lifeless Carol and sighed.

“What do you want us to say?” she asked, and Susan looked horrified. Trevor sneered…

“How could you, Janice?!” Susan had been shrieking on the entire drive home. She was outraged that Janice had just surrendered like that; and…can you really blame her? Janice had let them take control of the school! A mission they were sent to stop! Susan couldn’t get rid of the image in her mind after watching Trevor and Zachary haul Carol’s carcass out of the school and to a location she didn’t know. Even as they walked into the house, Susan’s ranting startling her three ferrets, she continued. She kept yelling as she followed her sister to the small table that held their house phone. Finally, Janice clapped a hand over her younger sibling’s mouth and shushed her.

“Wait for it…” she whispered. Seconds later, the phone rang, and Janice answered it, holding the receiver between her and her sister’s ears.

“Hello?” she asked.

“Did everything go well?” a voice from the other end asked back.

“Yes;” --Janice acknowledged the growing smile on Susan’s face-- “They don’t suspect anything…” 


	14. Chapter 13

It was Halloween night, and the crowd was restless in their seats. My friends crowded me as I peeked out of the curtain at our audience.

“Full House.” I told them, pointing to where I saw our parents and families. They sat near the Reynolds Sisters, chattering away, waiting for the show to start. I felt a tug on my pant leg and looked down to see Maize with one claw hooked in the fabric of my pants.

“This is cutting it close.” She said in a no-nonsense tone as Jasper and the rest of Six-Star approached. “It’s almost time…” I realized what time she was talking about, and I looked nervously at my friends. Britney, who we’d integrated into our show at the last possible nanosecond, looked at the crowd nervously.

“First time onstage?” Timmy asked.

“No…” Britney mumbled, “It’s just been a long while, and I’m a bit nervous about who might have shown up…” Maize nodded calmly, knowing that Britney meant the guy who’d taken her before. It was possible that he’d be here; nearly everyone in our neighborhood showed up for these concerts, and he did live here now.

“Guys,” Jasper piped up. “It may seem a little bleak now, but for tonight, follow this advice: When in doubt, dance it out.” He smiled at us, and then turned to face our little staff of students.

“All right, kids, bring it in!” He called, and we crowded close to him.

“So funny…” He chuckled sarcastically, motioning us to back up. “Now, we’ve been rehearsing for this since the beginning of the school year; there is no reason we should mess this up! Remember: We are…”

“RetroSpot!” we all shouted, cheering and bouncing around happily. Jasper shooed us away to our stations, sending my friends and I out onto the stage. We took our positions under our spotlights as the curtains rose and the house lights dimmed. The audience cheered as the spotlights shined down on us as the music started.

However, as soon as the music started, it came out as a loud, warbling, whining sound that was unbearable! I looked around, and I noticed some kind of red energy fields surrounding me and each of my friends. I looked over at Jasper, and he had a very scared look on his face, and he and Maize covered their eyes.

“It’s time…” I muttered to myself, realizing what was happening. I heard a slight crackling, and I noticed the spotlights were sparking. A funnel of red light fell on me, followed almost immediately by a surge of electric energy. A scream of pain was torn from my throat; it felt like being electrocuted and burned alive at the same time, and I have a bit of knowledge as to what both feel like. This had to be a thousand times worse than either of them though. I could just barely hear my friends’ screams under my own, but before I could feel any type of worry for them, I felt some kind of pop inside my skull, and I blacked out.


	15. Part 2: Believers Reborn/Chapter 14

“Travis, get up; get up!” someone was nagging me. I groaned and opened my eyes, only to see Maize inches from my face. I flinched, knocking my already aching head against the floor. I snarled something in Italian, rubbing the nice new lump I’d earned for my flinch. The second I moved though, I realized my entire body was wracked with pain, and then, of course, I remembered what happened; I found my head connecting with the floor again….

“Dude, get up!” Maize shouted, jumping on my chest. Yeah, that really felt nice… I painfully sat up, fighting the aftershock of that, well, terrible shock. There was no way I could stand up just yet, but apparently that wasn’t my decision; a pair of large, strong hands yanked me off the floor and placed me on my feet, and before you think to ask, it did in fact hurt. Before I even had time to think about that, though, another hand, considerably more gentle, was under my chin, forcing me to look into the eyes of someone I instantly recognized as Britney’s kidnapper, Trevor Bansel. 

“Oh, no…” I muttered, watching the crimson eyes of the smirking young Hexalian man holding my head. He adjusted his glasses and swiftly tickled my neck, making me flinch. He sneered, and held a white-gloved hand about two inches above my head. Surprisingly to me, I realized I felt it. He ruffled my hair, and I felt pain. I snarled, quite literally, and lashed at his arm. He quickly stepped back and snapped his fingers in his glove (an action that I always thought was impossible). I suddenly saw a duplicate of myself in front of me, and I jumped back maybe three feet before I realized a mirror had somehow appeared, and I was just staring at my reflection. Although, I wasn’t sure it was mine; I mean, it moved and breathed with me, but it looked nothing like the Travis I knew. His hair was brown like mine, and his eyes were green like mine; but everything else…

He had rounded orange, tiger-like ears on his head that twitched whenever he made them, there was a long, orange-and-black striped tail attached to his tailbone that swished in the air, his feet were bare, and his skin was a slight orange tint, with black stripe-like markings. He also wore a stark-white jumpsuit; It had a fire emblem over his chest, and a red band of color around his upper left arm, close to his shoulder.

“Travis…” I just barely heard Maize say as I sat down on the stage, trying to comprehend this. “Don’t freak out, buddy…” Get this; I was too freaked to freak. I looked to my friends, and they seemed to feel the same way. I saw Monica out of the corner of my eye; she walked over to me uneasily, although she was walking with her back straighter than I’d ever seen.

“You’re standing taller.” I heard myself say. She nodded, pushing back some of her curls as she sat beside me, sitting as straight as she had been standing.

“It’s her tail;” Kix informed me, motioning to the big fluffy squirrel tail Monica now had. “It helps her balance and therefore allows her spine to straighten.” I guess he realized that I wondered why my tail didn’t help me balance.

“It only works for creatures with large or really fluffy tails.” He added. “Sorry, Travvy!” I’m getting sick of that nickname…Monica looked down at her jumpsuit, which was identical to mine except for the water emblem hers had. Her unchanged white fedora had brown squirrel ears poking through the brim, and I noticed a bright blue staff on her back that looked considerably similar to a giant bubble wand. Corazon had changed too; she was the size of a raccoon!

“Wow!” Maize commented as the once smaller-than-her chinchilla now stood over her. “That Believer magic does some kind of work!” Even Corazon herself was confused, actually looking up before she realized Maize’s voice was coming from below her.

I looked up at my friends as they approached; J-C had the wings of a bluebird, and Timmy had the tawny brown wings of an owl. The twins had wings too, but those wings were from bats. Randy had a raccoon’s ears and tail, while Keith had the ears and tail of a red panda (which is like a raccoon, but it’s slightly smaller and has a reddish-brown fur color). Laura had the ears of a panda, along with the white and black markings pandas have on their heads and bodies over her face, hands, feet, and jumpsuit. Elliott had large white rabbit ears, a cotton tail, and his feet were maybe two shoe sizes bigger. Britney had a wolf’s tail and ears, along with a red circle around one eye. We all glanced at each other and mustered somewhat false smiles.

“To think,” Elliott spoke first, his voice breaking slightly. “The other kids called us freaks before; Look at us now…” Monica leaned on my shoulder, her eyes sparkling with unshed tears. I hugged her close, patting her arm.

“It’s not so bad, guys.” I tried to reassure them. “At least we all survived that shock thing; and we’re all together again.” That seemed to raise some spirits, but not by much. Six-Star watched us carefully, probably to see if we’d snap and start screaming or something like that. You wouldn’t believe how calm we were though! None of us could speak, but we glanced at each other’s blank faces, unsure of what to do. That’s when I glanced at the audience.

“What the--?” I stuttered. Everyone in the audience--everyone!—they were fastened to their seats with some kind of straps. It reminded me of rollercoaster seats, where they have like five lung-restricting seatbelts to prevent you from getting whiplash on those crazy turns and drops. But these were restraints; we now had a literally captive audience, something RetroSpot hasn’t needed for about 3 years now. I glanced over at Trevor, where he was talking with three other people who were most likely Hexalian. I glanced the other direction at Jasper, who was motioning to the rest of RetroSpot. He would point at the lights, at the curtains; He even pointed at Trevor’s group and us. He nodded, and then he gave me a thumbs up as some of the kids and teenagers ran up to the rafters and started working on the lights. We were confused until the spotlights shined down on us again, but this time, they weren’t painful, DNA-altering lasers. What? You don’t think children could fix a stage light? This is RetroSpot; once we raise the curtain, we aren’t normal kids anymore. Trevor and his team looked up, and there was a smile of disbelief on his face. I narrowed my eyes; my vision seemed to have improved with this change.

They wouldn’t dare… I saw him mouthing. I looked back at Jasper, and he motioned for us to go on and perform. When in doubt, dance out; those words floated lazily back into my memory. I put my headset around Keith’s neck and turned the volume on it up as the music started again: the instrumental of Stayin’ Alive by the ever-loving Bee Gees. Keith, Elliott, and Timmy stepped forward, and the rest of us ran backstage as quick as possible. As we came back in, Jasper quickly sent out a group of boys to act as backup.

Now, people, Keith may not be able to read, but he’s the best impersonator you will ever meet! He can mimic the voice of just about anybody we make him listen to. And that includes the impossible-to-match (-until-now) high-pitched voice of that singer from the Bee Gees! We have him as one of our prime singers, along with Monica and many others. We hadn’t practiced this song too many times, so Jasper recorded the lyrics to play through my headphones for him.

Unfortunately though, Jasper’s so-called advice had us leaving three of our “soldiers” and five innocents in the line of Trevor’s fire. And from this position, we could still see that none of them were happy about it. The audience didn’t seem to mind…too much. They were probably still mad about the whole strapped-to-their-seats thing, but they came to see us perform. So we did just that, even with Trevor and his crew watching us like hungry lions…


	16. Chapter 15

Would you believe we got through maybe seven songs in our performance after that? We didn’t either, but we did! Sadly, seven was our unlucky number today.

We had a group of young kids: kindergartners performing one of their cutesy little songs, when Trevor and his crew attacked. None of us were out there to protect them; not even Keith, who is a kindergartner! They shrieked, running around in similar fashion to cockroaches. Little kids are surprisingly fast, and Trevor clearly wasn’t ready for it. After having run circles around Trevor for about five minutes, the kids came backstage and clung to me and Jasper, leaving the Hexalians staring us down angrily. It reminded me of the look my brother gave me when I set his sneakers on fire that one (or was it the fourth?) time… I gently pried the small children’s hands off my clothes and walked out to face them; my friends, though slightly reluctant, did follow me, accompanied by Six-Star. Maize hopped onto my shoulder as Trevor stood over me, glaring daggers into my green eyes. I snarled, baring my newly developed tiger fangs. In a flash, Trevor’s hand was gripping my collar, and he was throwing me and Maize into a wall. Maize’s eyes flashed, and some kind of energy field bounced me away from the wall before I could actually hit it, not that I wanted to. I rubbed my head out of instinct; hitting that field felt a lot like trying to dive into Jell-O.

“Thanks, Maize.” I said quietly, and she just smiled. I smiled back…until I heard Monica screaming. I looked up to see her and Corazon running frantically toward me. One of the other Hexalians was chasing her.

“Monica!” Kix called, clinging to Corazon’s back. “The staff on your back; It’s there for a reason!” He meant that giant bubble wand attached to her jumpsuit; She pulled the metal staff from the sheath and, in the same motion, whacked her pursuer over the head with it. I winced at the resounding thud from him dropping to the floor. He gripped his skull, groaning in pain; Talk about getting your bell rung…

“Sweetie, you’re awesome!” Kix praised as Monica rubbed her hands together, recovering from the vibrations of hitting that guy with a metal staff.

“Thanks.” She said, though I heard a drop of venom in her words as she picked up the staff. “Next time, I can hit him with a giant tuning fork and cause an earthquake.” Kix snickered, observing the dazed expression on the man’s face. Monica left him to writhe, Kix and Corazon trailing behind. They quickly came to me, and I looked around; Ray and Riley seemed to be playing Keep Away with Trevor, flapping their wings wildly as if that would confuse him. J-C and Randy were running around like psychos, being chased by that guy I thought Monica had knocked out. Timmy and Elliott were with Britney and Laura, following them as they were chased by Trevor’s other teammate. I remembered seeing a woman on Trevor’s team; looking around again, I noticed her convulsed in pain on the stage. Keith was kneeling beside her in concern, and, sneaking past the chases, Monica and I came over to assist them.

“Is she okay?” Monica asked, gently rubbing her shoulder. She groaned quietly, barely moving.

“She keeps saying that, but she won’t get up!” Keith whined, feeling her forehead. His red ears folded, and he hugged his tail. “I think something’s wrong…” I knelt down and touched her head; she whimpered, and my ear twitched as I heard a faint growling.

“Could be a stomach bug.” I concluded. “I’m no doctor, you know.” Just as I finished that sentence, the woman was on her feet, shoving past Monica as she ran; in the same instance, Trevor shoved me to the floor, snatching Monica and Keith by their arms and sped off with them.

“Travis!” Monica shrieked as she lost her grip on her staff and it fell to the floor. I picked up the staff, but waited before doing anything; knowing Monica, a certain temptation would overcome her if I waited long enough.

“Maize!” I called, and she rushed to my side. I lowered one end of the staff, and she clung to it. Hmm, if I remember that lesson on simple machines, this would be a lever. Maize is the weight, my arm (which would hopefully not break while I attempted this) would be the fulcrum, and the force was my fist hitting the end of the staff, launching the black cat into the air. Maize flew through the air, landing on Trevor’s shoulder and sinking those sharp teeth into the meat of his arm. He bit down on a scream of pain, dropping to his knees and gripping his punctured arm. Keith and Monica squirmed free and ran toward me, and I led them back toward Jasper and the rest of RetroSpot.

“Let’s go!” I called to my friends as I ran by. They abandoned their fights and sped after us. Corazon jumped onto Monica’s shoulder, and Six-Star fell in step with us as we made it through the door and locked it. Everyone was deeply concerned, and they helped us regain our strength.

“Fighting those guys was exhausting!” Randy shouted, leaning on the wall, with Laura leaning beside him.

“And that Zachary character is really strong!” Laura added, rubbing her elbow. “He nearly took my arm off!” Britney clung to Ray, whose left wing had a scrape on it. I’d seen him graze the edge of the stage with that wing; I’ll have to remember to ask Ms. Wayne if we can sand that edge smooth. Our attention turned to Jasper, who was holding a microphone and a glowing orb.

“Take the Believers and scram.” He said to Maize. “I’ll handle the rest.” She nodded, tugging my pant leg and walking to the door that led outside. Just outside I stopped, pressing my ear to the door.

“Travis, come on!” Maize shouted, and I motioned to her to be quiet while I listened to Jasper give our trademark RetroSpot sendoff.

“Well, folks, that’s it!” He shouted to the crowd. “We hope you enjoyed our show! Happy Halloween, guys; This has been RetroSpot! Goodnight!” I heard what sounded like a muffled explosion, and then running footsteps moving away from the door. A feeling of worry came over me, but J-C yanked my arm, pulling me away from the door. We ran as fast as we could as could back to my house, locking the door and going upstairs to my room. Six-Star counted us and each other, making extra sure no one got left behind. Needless to say, it didn’t take long to count heads for only eleven kids, but it was only 5:30; we had a whole hour to kill before the Reynolds’ Sisters would pick us up for trick or treating. Possibly longer, considering how they’d been strapped to their chairs.

“Monica,” I called; she glanced up at me. “Stand right here.” I pointed to the floor about arms’ length from me. She stood there, and I took both her hands and rested them on her head. I lightly ran my hands down her sides; she giggled, trying to stand still.

“Travis, quit it!” She laughed, stepping back; I slipped my hand into her jacket pocket, pulling out a ring of keys. I smirked at Monica as a slight red tint came to her cheeks. I pat her head, noticing that the keys were labeled.

“Nice score, kid.” I praised, my eyes sparkling with mischief. Monica saw the glow in my eyes and squealed with excitement. I pulled a suitcase from my closet, twirling the key ring on my finger as I led my friends-turned-vandals to the house where the front door key fit…


	17. Chapter 16

About two-and-a-half hours since that little onstage fiasco with the Believers, Trevor and his band of Hexalian invaders stood outside the house, not one of them happy.

“Honestly, guys, I think one of those runts took my keys!” Trevor insisted.

“And what would those kids want with your keys?!” Zachary contradicted as Fillmore unlocked the door with his key. Almost immediately upon opening it, a muffled explosion followed by a horrible smell was in the room. Holding their breaths, the Hexalians entered their house to find it totally vandalized. Nothing was broken, mind you, but everything seemed marked somehow. There was spray-paint and silly string plastered all over the walls and furniture in bizarre patterns you only see in abstract art, unmistakable ketchup and mustard stains on the carpets, and, as Trevor found out the hard way: all the hardwood and tile in the house was slicked with butter. Even Orion had suffered; Trevor found the griffin in the garage draped in toilet paper and more silly string. Of course, Orion was fast asleep; did he even know he was in that condition?

“Oh, man…” Trevor groaned, walking toward the stairs. “This is just--” He flinched, clutching his chest as he heard a loud pop. He looked at the stairs to see that all of them were lined with bubble wrap. His anger rising, he ran up the stairs to survey the damage there. He was very taken aback at what he saw; this was where the real destruction was. Things were knocked over and flung to the floor, but again, nothing was broken, just messy. As Trevor passed his room, though, he did a sharp double-take.

“What the--?!” ‘he exclaimed. He ran into the room, looking around frantically.

“It’s gone…” He whispered in disbelief.

“What’s gone?” Fillmore asked as he walked in. The pure shock in Trevor’s eyes was unnerving as he motioned to an open box in the corner of the room, on which, the lock had been broken. Fillmore was at a loss as well… The Red Radiate Wand was gone…

“Stolen, no doubt…” Trevor snarled, clenching his fists angrily as he stood up.

“Trevor?” The young rookie was a bit nervous; he’d never ever seen Trevor so upset. “Calm down, kid; it could be worse. We could’ve--” Trevor gripped his shirt collar in a vice grip, his crimson eyes glowing a faint violet with ferocity.

“Shut up!” He shouted, throwing the rookie to the floor. When he saw the slight fear in Fillmore’s rose-colored eyes, he bit his lip and forced his anger to a minimum, helping the young agent back to his feet.

“Sorry, man…” He sighed. Fillmore pats his head, and then pointed to the nightstand by his bed.

“Hey, my keys!” the Heartless Angel observed; he picked up the key ring. Attached to the ring was a note: ‘ ** _Lose something?_** ’ Trevor snarled, but then he laughed. Trevor lay on his bed, convulsed in insane, hysteric laughter while Fillmore stood nearby, confused. Zachary walked in, having carried Melanie up the stairs.

“Yep.” He said bluntly, handing the young woman to Fillmore as they watched Trevor laugh. “Your cousin has lost it.” Trevor was on his feet in a second, a broad smile taking his face.

“No, actually, I haven’t;” he deduced. “In fact, my friends, I do believe I’ve found it!” The agents looked at each other and shrugged; except Fillmore, who was still cradling Melanie.

“Zachary, call the royals!” Trevor ordered. “Tell them we’re gonna need to borrow the troops! Melanie, I need you to investigate a kid by the name of Jasper Wilson; and Fillmore, can you put Melanie down and help me find some painkillers? My head is aching something awful…” The agents went to work on their tasks, and Trevor smirked as he lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling.

“Those runts don’t know what they’re in for…” He muttered. Just outside his window, though, perched in a tree, was a very familiar black cat. Behind her, the young girl with the squirrel tail tucked the Red Wand into her trick-or-treat bag and they both dropped from the tree and ran to regroup with the others… 


	18. Chapter 17

I looked at my friends as we sat around the table in the basement. Six-Star read through the Red Tome of Hexal while I examined the Red Radiate Wand. From the looks of it, it was nothing special, aside from the large ruby sphere that was its glowing power source.

“I don’t get it, Maize.” I announced. “This thing is the source of our Believer powers?” She nodded, flipping more pages in the book.

“Yes, children, that little mix of stone and natural metal is your power source.” She informed us. “See how it glows? That’s the Red Radiation known as Hex100. Its effects are minor on normal humans, but as you kittens know, you aren’t normal. The radiation was the final ingredient for you kids to become Believers, since you already had the genes and the Destiny Symbols.” She scanned over a page in the Tome. “Ah, here it is. According to this, the Red Radiate Wand was once known as the Ruby Wand of Leadership, and was gifted by the Hexalian Gods to the leaders of past Believer eras as a means to protect themselves and their teammates...” Everyone turned to me, and I stared at the Red Wand.

“Me?” I thought out loud; everyone nodded in agreement. “Whoa, hang on! I know you guys think of me as the leader, but I don’t even know what this thing is! Let alone what I’m supposed to do with it! Maize, can you find anything?”

“Uh… No. It says that its use will become clear in a dire situation.”

“Meaning?”

“It means it’ll only show its power when you’re in danger. That way, you won’t just go around using it willy-nilly like a crazy thing.” I nodded, clutching the wand and sighing.

“Now, here’s a question;” I mentioned. “How are we supposed to get out of our Believer Forms?! It’s not like we can go out in public like this!”

“We went trick-or-treating like this.” Monica reminded me.

“It’s Halloween, Monica.” I said bluntly, and she nodded. I felt a slight heat building in my hand, and I saw that the orb on the wand was glowing; the glow was becoming blinding, and the heat was becoming unbearable. I noticed the makeshift button on the wand, and when I pressed it, ribbons of bright red light streaked around the room, embedding themselves into each of our wrists. We cried out in pain from the burning sensation, but when that was over, we had new black symbols implanted in our skin.

“Oh.” Randy chuckled bitterly. “So that’s what a tattoo is like.”

“Yeah;” Keith added, rubbing his wrist. “Dad did say they hurt.” As he scratched the sore mark, his ears and tail started glowing. In an instant, the ears, tail, and jumpsuit vanished, leaving Keith in the outfit he’d been wearing earlier: his RetroSpot uniform and sneakers.

“Hey!” He shouted happily. “Look at me! I’m normal again!”

“That’s right!” Maize announced. Valentine stepped up, apparently not wanting Maize to look like the only smart one.

“Those symbols on your arms are HexScript words.” He declared.

“They mean Believer!” Kix added, jumping onto his father’s back. Ginseng, Mordecai, and Daisy just nodded.

“When you rub the mark, you’ll switch between forms.” Maize went on. “You’ll have to be a mite careful though for a while. If someone else touches that mark, you’ll still morph, and I get the feeling you wouldn’t want that. This is why the jumpsuits you have in you Believer forms are long-sleeved. The mark doesn’t respond if there’s something covering it. Still, Hexalians are tricky; they’re unpredictable. That’s why we need to think about the information we heard from Trevor, and figure out what he’s up to.” Monica and Maize repeated, word for word, what they’d heard Trevor telling his crew while they were perched in that tree. As much as we tried, we couldn’t think of anything he might be trying to pull. We decided to wait until Monday, where we could compare notes with Jasper at school.


	19. Chapter 18

My friends and I roller-skated into the school building just as the morning bell rang. We had just avoided being late, and since it was the first school day of the month, we were given an extra thirty minutes before we had to be in class. One of the few rules Ms. Wayne established that students liked. Something felt wrong though; all around the school, students murmured in small groups huddled near the walls. On the second floor, where our class was, the hall was a ghost town. I noticed Jasper on the staircase to the third floor.

“Hey, Jasper!” I called; I would have said more, but in an instant, he was inches away from me, his hand clamped over my mouth. He looked around frantically like an alerted prairie dog, and I noticed what looked like a plastic-encased black collar around his neck.

“What is that?” I asked, pushing his hand away. He glanced around, making observations.

“Oh, that?” He asked back, somewhat loudly, pointing at the trophy case down the hall. “It’s the trophy case, stupid; you see it every day.” We stared at him confused, but he quickly made a motion with his hand as he pulled out a notepad and pencil from his pocket. That motion was one he taught to RetroSpot when we had a blackout in the middle of our Fourth of July concert last year; it meant to follow his lead.

“Honestly, Travis;” He said out loud while scribbling on the paper. “How could you forget about the trophy case?” He handed the pencil and pad to me, and made the motion again.

“Uh… It just slipped my mind I guess;” I said, and he motioned me to speak a little louder. His note read: ‘ ** _This thing around my neck records sound, conversations_** ’ “You know how forgetful I can be.” I quickly wrote on the next page: ‘ ** _What happened?_** ’

“Forgetful?” Jasper scoffed, scribbling his response. “Is that why you can’t focus in class?” ‘ ** _After you guys left the concert, we freed everyone and I used a little trick to wipe their minds_** ’

“Don’t go there, Jasper.” ‘ ** _What about that collar thing?_** ’

“Oh, did I strike a nerve, Malone?” ‘ ** _Trevor caught me before I could run; he locked this thing on my neck, and it’s been there ever since_** ’

“Can we discuss something else?” ‘ ** _What about the rest of RetroSpot? Did you wipe their minds too? How would you do that in the first place?_** ’

“Sure. Hey, how was trick-or-treating Saturday?” ‘ ** _No; of course not. Long story kid… I can’t tell you with this thing on._** ’

“Pretty awesome; Monica had a sugar rush that lasted hours; She kept us awake until, like, three in the morning.” ‘ ** _You know, you seem to have a lot of long stories you haven’t told me. But have you found out anything about Trevor’s plans?_** ’ When I handed him the pad, and he read that note, a look of pure fear crossed his face; and it quickly turned into sadness as he nodded. He pointed to the office door, which was just down the hall, near the trophy case. He led us there and, nervously, knocked on the door.

“Come in!” came the less-enthusiastic-than-usual voice of Ms. Redhead Reynolds. Jasper opened the door, moving so we could walk past him. Both of the Reynolds Sisters were at their desks, but neither of them looked to happy that we’d shown up. They didn’t look mad, but they seemed sad, almost scared. The younger sister stood up silently, her frizzy red hair falling in her face, just barely masking the tearstains that were there. She walked to the door to Ms. Wayne’s office and knocked gently. A voice just barely reached her from the other room, and she opened the door, motioning us to go in. Her face was very dismal, and Jasper and the elder Reynolds Sister had the same expression. We looked at each other, and I found Monica’s hand gripping my own tightly; Keith clung tightly to Randy as we walked into the principal’s office with Jasper trailing behind.

As we walked in, we faced the back of the principal’s chair. Movie cliché, anyone? Anyone? The chair slowly turned (ultimate cliché moment), and we faced-- not Ms. Wayne, but a young man… with short brown hair, crimson eyes, and stark white gloves.

“Hi, kids.” Trevor spoke darkly, a cruel sneer on his face. We cried out in horror at the shock of the situation. This was Trevor, here at our school! And our principal was gone!

“What’d you do with Ms. Wayne?!” J-C snapped, breaking the silence. Trevor laughed quietly.

“Your principal, Caroline Wayne?” He smirked. “If memory serves, she’s been taking a dirt nap at least sixty miles outside the city since Friday evening.”

“You…killed her?!” Keith asked, whining fearfully. When Trevor nodded, almost happily, our eyes filled with worry and fear as the realization hit. He had murdered Ms. Wayne, and now he was taking her place as principal!

“W-Why?” Monica asked, crying into my shoulder. Trevor looked a bit disheartened at the sight of Monica crying, but he held the smug tone in his voice.

“Well, my employers are out to take over this pretty little state of Ohio, and since someone else got dibs on Columbus, my crew was sent here. They heard that this huge school was here, so they sent me to give you kids a little surprise. I have big plans for this place, and you may have noticed some of them in action.” --He motioned to Jasper and his fancy collar--“That collar should keep your little inside source from passing along too much information; As should the new systems I’ve installed. I wish I could speak more of this to you kids, but…”--He glanced at the clock on the desk--“You kids have to get to class. Go on; scoot, shorties.” J-C shot him his infamous death glare as we left the room. Redhead Reynolds was crying into her sister’s shoulder, and the elder sister motioned for us to leave. In the hall, students were going in all directions to their classes. Looking around, Randy knelt next to Keith and gripped his shoulders, looking him in the eyes.

“Be careful, runt.” He said sternly. “I mean it now more than ever.” He pulled Raphael from Keith’s backpack and handed it to him.

“We will;” the young boy nodded, hugging Randy and crying into his coat. “I promise…” He let go and ran off to class, clutching his skunk doll tightly. As we walked into our classroom, the usual buzz of chatter was there, but Ms. Kallen wasn’t. Instead, that woman from Trevor’s crew stood before the class, writing her name on the board with purple chalk. She smiled warmly when she saw us, motioning us to go sit down.

“All right, kids, calm yourselves.” She instructed as we sat down. The chatter slowly ebbed away. She looked over us and nodded, and then motioned to the name on the board.

“This is my name;” She said bluntly, making some of the students giggle. “If you can’t read my handwriting, I’m sorry; I need to work on that. My name is Melanie Sanchez. I’ll be your substitute teacher until further notice. You can call me by my first name, as long as you don’t call me Millie. Only my boyfriend and my cousins call me that, and frankly, I’m sick of it.” Someone in the back raised their hand, and Melanie pointed to them.

“Ms. Sanchez?” She asked nosily. “Will you tell us about your boyfriend?” We looked back at Melanie, and she blushed a bit. We all gave her the pleading baby eyes, and she sighed, giving in. Yep, works every time… She shut the door and stood before us.

“You cannot tell anyone a word of what I tell you.” She began, and I looked over at Jasper, who was smirking. The red light on his collar went right on blinking as Melanie started talking.

“Okay, well…” My boyfriend’s really sweet, as you would imagine. Although, he is a bit geeky sometimes; he loves computers, and he’s totally tech-savvy. He’s pretty funny, and he’s always… tickling me. I hate it so much when he does that…”--She shook her head, and looked over at me and each of my friends. A smirk curled her lips, and she turned back to the board-- “But why don’t I save the life stories until we have time for them. Okay, class, take out your science books and pencils; turn to page 80, and we’ll go over the human body…” Hexalian or not, Melanie was a teacher, all right, and like most teachers, she was putting me to sleep. It’s a shame because I love science, and yet I still fall asleep. Just when I was about to, Jasper poked my arm with a pencil and pointed up to the security camera in the corner of the ceiling above the door.

“Dude, chill;” I whispered. “Those cameras haven’t worked for years. Peter said they weren’t even working when he went to school here.” Jasper pointed at the camera again, and I humored him this time, narrowing my eyes at the camera. The red light was blinking at a steady pace. My eyes widened as I picked up my pencil and tapped it on the desk. Monica looked up from her paper and glanced at me. I tapped my pencil on the desk in Morse code patterns, watching Monica and Elliott out of the corner of my eye. They looked up at the camera in horror. Monica scribbled on a sticky note and wrapped it around a pencil before passing it to Britney in the seat in front of her; Elliott folded a note into a paper airplane, throwing it behind him without even looking. It flew in a perfect arc, landing on J-C’s desk. It wasn’t long before the team was alerted, and we were organized to meet in the library at recess.

“Travis, please stop that racket.” Melanie called; I stopped, with a victorious smirk on my face. We were on track at least. Now, to get the train going… 


	20. Chapter 19

We sat in the library at the computers. With that collar on Jasper, we figured an offline chat room would help us gather some info at least.

“So, what’s the story?” I typed in.

“Well, for one, any word that comes out of my mouth could give Trevor information through the collar; so I basically can’t talk.” Jasper responded.

“I take it Trevor must have some receiver for the collar’s data?” Timmy added.

“Most likely.” Jasper answered.

“We could always just talk in code.” Britney typed. “Like you did in the classroom.”

“No dice;” Monica argued. “Trevor seems pretty smart. If the collar records us talking in code, it’s only a matter of time before he cracks our code. For all we know, he could decode our Morse code.”

“Well, why don’t we just break the collar?” J-C asked.

“I think that’s what the plastic case on it is for.” Elliott reminded him.

“That would easily break under a hammer.” Laura put in.

“What?!” Jasper shouted out loud, and we considered ourselves lucky that the head librarian was one of the recess aids, and therefore, wasn’t here. “There is no way I’m letting you near my head with a hammer!” Laura burst out laughing, swearing that it was just a joke. Jasper glared at her, turning back to his computer.

“Hey, didn’t Jasper say Trevor locked the collar on his neck?” Keith typed. (More accurately, Keith whispered in Randy’s ear, and he typed for him.)

“So?” Randy asked.

“If it’s a lock, I can probably crack it.” Britney added in. We looked at each other and smiled; Monica and I took Jasper’s hands and dragged him into the hall. We quickly ran past the security cameras, and down the stairs to the school’s basement, which, under Ms. Wayne’s control, had been off-limits to students. Now, we weren’t sure if Trevor even knew the basement was here.

The only way into the basement is through the janitor’s closet down here. I knocked on the door.

“Mr. Jones?” I called. A young man with amber eyes and skin that appeared to be suntanned opened the door and let us in. Mr. Jones is the janitor around here, and he seems to know a lot about what goes on. It was no question that he’d have something we could use to break Jasper’s collar, but maybe he could shed light on some other things. We introduced him to Britney and gave him the details as fast as possible, not really caring if the collar heard us or not, considering we’d be rid of it in a few minutes.

Mr. Jones doesn’t talk much, but he is very helpful. When we told him Britney could pick locks, he handed her a screwdriver and observed as she found the lock on the plastic case and managed to unlock it. As the case fell to the floor, Jasper took a deep breath, and small marks on his neck showed where the case had harshly pressed into the skin. Britney easily undid the simple clasp on the collar itself and switched off the microphone.

“So can we talk now?” Keith asked, and we laughed, ruffling his hair. Meanwhile, Monica and Timmy examined the collar.

“…Yeah! And then we could--” Monica giggled.

“Exactly, but we’ll have to be fast!” Timmy agreed, turning to Mr. Jones. “Mr. Jones, we need a tape recorder, a walkie-talkie, a hot glue gun, and some tools for handling electronics. Please?” The janitor gathered the items and lay them on a table. Timmy and Monica may have been the brains of this group, but I’m the technician; I picked up the tools and dismantled the collar, finding the microphone and transmitter components. I had to adjust the transmitter to the frequency of the walkie-talkie; then glue it and the microphone to a Velcro patch Monica found. After burning my finger with the hot glue and attaching the microphone to its place, I handed our new spy bug to Maize, and she ran off in a small black blur; she snuck back in my desk while we were in class and nodded. I guessed our spy bug was in place, and I smiled up at the security camera.

We showed our recorder to the Reynolds Sisters when they came to babysit that evening. Redhead Reynolds was ecstatic, saying that we were so creative. Her sister was silent though, seeming very uneasy as she looked down at Maize. The charcoal-colored cat had a similar look on her face, pacing about nervously.


	21. Chapter 20

Trevor walked through the empty school on the twelfth of November, a cold autumn Friday just after school ended. He had a small group of Red Eye Hexalians trailing behind him loyally. They followed him up to the fifth floor, where he knocked on the door of a computer lab. The lone teacher at his desk looked up at the young man.

“Oh, hello, Trevor! Come on in, pal!” he called. Trevor smiled and walked in with his small posse.

“Hey, my man!” Trevor greeted happily. “How’d the day go? I feel kinda drained myself.”

“I agree; you know how those high school students are. They’re little hooligans sometimes.”

“Well, thank God it’s Friday, right?”

“Oh, you know it! …Say, who’s your little crew over there?” Trevor smirked; it was about time he noticed them.

“These guys?” He asked, standing amongst the silent group. “They’re just some buddies of mine paying a little visit for some… specific reasons…”

“Oh? What are they here for?”

“Oh, nothing important really… Just your job.” The young teacher laughed, taking it as a dark-humored joke. Trevor laughed as well; of all people, he knew that laughter was contagious. Both of them continued laughing, even as Trevor looked at his followers.

“Get rid of him!” He ordered happily, still chuckling as the teacher realized the danger and began to protest. The silent followers simply grabbed him, covering his mouth and nose with a chloroform-soaked rag. They dragged the unconscious man out into the hall, falling in step with four other groups carrying four other unconscious teachers through the school. Fillmore walked in, smirking.

“I get a computer lab huh? Nice.” He chuckled.

“Yeah, man. All yours.” Trevor smiled. “Go geek it up, buddy!” He laughed at the irritated look on Fillmore’s face. He was interrupted though, by an abrupt scream from the hall. He looked up to see two of his followers pushing a rolling desk chair into the room. A very familiar redheaded woman was tied tightly to it, struggling and shouting futile threats.

“Well, well;” Trevor chuckled, “and here I thought you and your sister had cleared out by now. What are you doing lurking around here, girl?”

What are you doing abducting the teachers?!” Susan shot back, struggling. Trevor smiled, gripping her chin.

“All in good time, love.” He sneered, kissing her nose and smirking as the blood rushed to her cheeks.

Susan assessed her options, but she didn’t like either one. She knew there was no way he’d let her go without having some “fun” first, but maybe she could get some information from him. An unlikely event and a very large risk to take… She thought about Carol, and she knew it was a risk she’d have to take.

“Why can’t you tell me now?” She asked, sounding slightly helpless; not that she wasn’t helpless. Trevor smirked and laughed; did she really ask such a question? Susan cringed; why did she ask him that?

“Oh, love.” Trevor giggled. “Perhaps I could tell you. But only if you’ll be a doll and help us with a little something.” Oh, crud…Susan thought.

“Fillmore, do you have some packing tape? We’ll need it.” Trevor chuckled.

Susan screamed, lost in her hysteria. Trevor’s fingers flexed fast over her belly and waist, and the laughter coming from her was like a sweet song to him. So much so that he almost wanted to show mercy.

‘Wow…’ Trevor thought. ‘Her laugh is as pretty as her face…’ He squeezed her side, making her squeal and struggle. He picked up the roll of tape as he walked down to her bound feet. Having removed her sneakers earlier, he dragged a finger down her socked sole as his Minion Gloves wrapped more tape around her ankles. She giggled, curling her toes. Trevor, chuckled, prying back her toes and scratching her soles. She shrieked, laughing unceasingly as Trevor forced his fingers between her socked toes. The Hexalian male went back to her torso and teasingly poked her sides, watching her flinch away from his fingers, and almost trying to fall off the desk she was bound to. Of course, Trevor had let her fall off the desk earlier --her glasses were still on the floor--, watching smugly as a large group of his Minion Gloves caught her and tickled her mercilessly. It was surprising that she was willing to risk that happening again. There was the chance that the gloves had wandered away from their post, but it was unlikely; even if they had, her wrists and ankles were bound, so there was no way she’d be able to escape. All that, and falling onto the floor from three feet up didn’t seem very ideal. Trevor grabbed her shoulder just before she fell and pinned her back to the desk. Tear-filled eyes met evil crimson ones, but the crimson was softer and less hostile than earlier. Susan’s eyes were locked with his as he leaned down to her face, his lips brushing her own, and the cherry scent on his breath tormenting her nostrils. A deep blush spread fast across her cheeks and just as suddenly loud laughter from her throat.

“I will admit it.” Trevor sighed, his finger twirling teasingly in and around her navel. “I do find you quite attractive. That smile and those eyes of yours could blind a thousand men, whether they were human… Or Hexalian, love.” Susan was shocked and, figuratively, speechless at his words. It was high school all over again… People having crushes and such nonsense… Trevor smirked at her blushing shyness.

“Or, love,” he added. “Should I call you Spider Keeper?” Her eyes suddenly widened as his smirk did the same.

“Wha-” She stammered. “H-How did you--”

“Ha! Love, I knew the whole time! You shouldn’t have tried to hit me the day we met in Carol’s office. You’ve got nerve, Susie, and that makes you a threat; and like all people who pose a threat to me, I had Melanie do a background search on you. We didn’t get much by ways of Earth files, not even a birth certificate. But then we dared to search on Hexalia; You wouldn’t believe how many databases had your name in them!” Susan was dumbstruck now; the whole time, he’d known about her being on the Rebel Force. He knew she was Hexalian, and Lord only knows what else he knew about her.

“W-Why have you been so calm around me for so long if you knew I was on the Rebel Force?” she asked.

“The same reason I’ve been calm around you: To hold up a believable cover. You have a very good poker face, love; if it wasn’t for Melanie, I’d probably still think you were human. Of course, it does help that I caught you putting in your colored contacts in your office last week.” Removing the glove on his right hand, he summoned his gloves to hold her still while he removed both her green contacts, revealing her true eyes, which sparkled bright red like a beautiful ruby. He picked up her glasses and placed them over her eyes. He stood back and chuckled.

“Well, four hours of torture and you’re still adorable.” He observed. “That or it’s just because you don’t wear mascara.” He carefully wiped the tears from her face, his hand resting gently on her cheek. He was actually serious about having fallen for her! Susan blushed again, looking away from him. He only chuckled, looking at his watch.

“Like I said, you’ve been here four hours, and since I like you… I’ll let you off early, Susie.” He snickered.

“You consider 7:00 in the evening early?!” Susan protested.

“Well, if you’d rather stay…”

“No! Let me go!” Trevor chuckled at her struggling and snapped his fingers, making her vanish from his sight.

Susan blinked and saw her bedroom, not the classroom she’d been held captive in. The tape on her wrists and ankles was gone, but there were red marks to remind her that the incident wasn’t just a vivid dream. She rubbed her wrists and looked around the room to see six small cats and three ferrets sitting on the bed with her. She stared at them, and they didn’t need her to speak to know where she’d been all afternoon.

“You should be more careful, Spider Keeper…” Maize sighed. “We told you it would be dangerous.”

“Is the bug recording or not?” She asked sternly, not wanting to discuss the incident. Maize motioned to the walkie-talkie Travis had given them to hang onto. All the believers had been too scared to take it, fearing that Trevor would find the bug and track the signal.

“I told them it would be just fine.” Maize sighed. “But they were all scared, so we took it. It’s been recording since we got it. I doubt Trevor will actually be clever enough to figure out where I planted the bug.

“Well, I wouldn’t say that Miss Maize.” a voice chuckled through the speaker. Six-Star and the Trifecta jumped back in horror. The Heartless Angel only laughed on the other end of the transmission.

“You didn’t think you could get away with this for long, did you?!” He asked. “I’m lucky Fillmore can rig up a two-way transmission like this, huh?”

“H-How did you find out?” Susan stammered. Trevor chuckled, remembering the incident the night before that uncovered the microphone:

“You told her?!” Zachary shouted, his face inches from Trevor’s just before he fell back into his chair, laughing almost as loud as Susan had. Unfortunately, it was mocking laughter--mocking him specifically-- and it did not appeal in a good way to the smitten Hexalian. Wishing he had the tire iron, he hit Zachary over the head with an almanac. The weight of a bazillion generally useless facts can be a great weapon. Of course, Zachary’s right hook to his shoulder must have contained at least two bazillion generally useless facts.

“Listen, runt.” The Venom Chameleon sighed, kneeling on the Trevor’s back and putting most of his weight on that knee. “I’m not saying you can’t love this girl. I mean, you don’t see cute redheads like that very often, especially not on Earth. I’ve heard about you though. Don’t screw this up like you did with that Denise chick.” Trevor’s crimson eyes glowed in fury.

“Don’t say that name!” He snapped, burying his face in the inch high carpet of their living room. His past relationship was a nightmare he didn’t want to think about anymore. Zachary chuckled.

“Just promise you won’t mess up, okay?” He playfully hit Trevor upside his head.

“Ouch!” Trevor shouted.

“Oh, come on, you pansy; I barely hit you!”

“I know, there’s something in my hat!”

“You getting lice, kid?”

“Of course not… Lice aren’t made of plastic and Velcro…” He pulled the small, makeshift contraption from his hat; It was the microphone from Jasper’s collar. He chuckled darkly.

“Those little punks…” He sighed.

Trevor chuckled over the speaker.

“It was a funny little incident really, but more importantly, you can kiss those believer kids goodbye because I’ve got a nice little present lined up for them on… Let’s see… How does the nineteenth sound?”

“That’s a week…” Susan murmured to herself.

“That’s correct, love, and the day after, I’ll finally have my troops set and ready to take over the school, and sooner after, this whole city. Ah, but don’t worry, Susie; you’ll always have a place in my mind and heart.”

“Y-You’re cruel, Trevor…” Susan declared, on the brink of tears. “Y-You’re…”

“Say it…” Trevor chuckled, and the sneer on his face could be assumed through his tone.

“You’re heartless!”

“I know that, love. I know it well. Oh, while I’ve got you, I should let you know of the little gift I’m sending…” Just as he finished speaking, a few dozen of his Minion Gloves burst into the room through the door.

“Susan!” Janice called from the lower floor. “What’s going on?!” Susan screamed in horror and Six-Star scattered with the Trifecta as they swarmed the room. She dodged their attack and all of them ran from the room. They grouped with Janice, who was holding her own in the living room. She snapped her fingers in the navy blue gloves that covered them, sending swarms of dragonflies onto the offenders and pushing them back. Susan reached for the purple gloves in her pocket, only to feel a tight, and very familiar hold on her wrist; she glanced behind her to see the evil smirk and crimson eyes of the Heartless Angel. He wrenched her wrist over her head and squeezed her hip. She shrieked, losing her balance and falling onto her sister, knocking both to the floor. Trevor pinned her to the carpet while Zachary and Fillmore walked into the house and closed the door. Janice got to her feet, ready for a rematch, only to have Zachary catch her hands and tie them behind her back with a thick cord.

“Well, you two aren’t going anywhere, it seems.” Trevor smirked, pulling Susan’s gloves from her pocket while Zachary removed Janice’s from her hands.

“Glorious…” Susan spat, venom in her sarcasm. “Now get off me!” She brought her feet up and kicked his stomach, flinging him against the wall. The Minion Gloves wasted no time in restraining her again. She sighed as Trevor rubbed his stomach where she’d kicked him; it would probably be sore for a few days, possibly a little internal bleeding.

“As I said, you two are stuck, love.” Trevor repeated. He heard panicked cries from the upper floor, and looked up to see Six-Star and the Trifecta flung relentlessly down the stairs by his Minion Gloves. They were all too weak to escape as the gloves pulled them off the floor and held them.

“And as for you guys…” Trevor sneered. He motioned with his hand and snapped his fingers, causing his red briefcase to appear. He pulled a bottle of Pepto-Bismol from the case and smirked.

“I happen to know that this stuff has a bad effect on Hex-cats.” He chuckled. “I also know what that effect is.” He handed off the bottle to Zachary; he didn’t feel like being gentle with them. Just as Trevor knew he would, Zachary forced the liquid down each of the felines’ throats and the Minion gloves dropped the weak cats to the floor. Valentine snarled, but went into a coughing spell.

“Now then,” Trevor chuckled. “As you can see, the effect of this medicine on you is violent coughing, a viciously sore and constricted throat, and an inability to speak coherently. I’m sure you can figure out why. And you two-” He turned to the Reynolds Sisters as his gloves brought out two wrist braces and attached one to both of them. “-These braces with activate on a code word, or eleven code words specifically. Each of the Believers’ names are logged in as trigger words. And you can’t really get in touch with them without saying their names.”

“And what’ll happen if we say one?” Janice asked.

“Oh, nothing. Just a hundred-thousand volt shock for about three seconds. I’ll also be leaving some of my Minion Gloves to look after you two and make sure you don’t try any tricks like mailing them letters or something. With all that… We’ll be off then. Bye, ladies!” Trevor and his crew left, and two dozen of the Minion Gloves stayed behind. The ones restraining Susan let her go and untied Janice. If they had faces they’d be smirking… They allowed the two sisters to teleport the six cats to each of their care-takers, but surveyed them for the rest of the evening.


	22. Chapter 21

On Saturday morning, I woke to Maize jumping on my chest. I’m sure I’ve said this before, but that’s not cool…

“Maize, that still hurts, you know…” I mumbled, sitting up.

“Travis…” She said hoarsely. Very hoarsely, actually; like she’d been eating sand or something.

“Hey, Maize, are you okay?” I asked. I picked her up and rubbed her throat. As soon as I touched it, she was coughing roughly and choking. When she got her breathing under control, I held her head to my forehead- I’d done this with my neighbor’s cat last year- I felt a lot of heat, and not just from her fur and skin.

“I think you have a fever.” I told her. “And obviously a sore throat. Maybe you should stay home for a while.” She shook her head, whining. She actually wanted me to take her to school on Monday. Well, that makes one of us… I stroked her back and set her on my pillow.

“You get some rest. I don’t think you can work in your condition.” I advised. She whined hoarsely again and climbed into my jacket pocket while it was still on the coatrack.

“Oh fine…” I gave up. “I guess I could carry you around to save your breath. But you’d better wait there until I’m ready.” She rasped something at me and I sighed, going to get ready for the day.

An hour later, I was walking down the sidewalk with Monica. She had Kix in her arms, and he was in no better condition than Maize.

“I don’t know how he got like this.” Monica told me. “He came stumbling in the window this morning, coughing like my dad’s old car. The twins say Ginseng is just as bad.”

“Yeah, so is Maize.” I mentioned. “You don’t think Trevor found a way to make them sick, do you?” Monica cringed at the thought.

“I don’t think we should be so paranoid. At least, not yet, anyway.” Kix reached a paw out to his mother, rasping almost desperately. Maize touched her son’s paw, nudging it back to him and shaking her head. Monica and I glanced at each other nervously. It was more than obvious something was wrong, but they couldn’t tell us.

As we passed Trevor’s house, we noticed him dragging a trash bag out of the house with quite some urgency. We also noticed the holes cut into the bag for whatever reason. Trevor glanced at us and smirked deviously as he walked toward us. Curiosity was the greatest weakness of our age group, so we couldn’t will ourselves to move. Trevor set the bag at our feet and sneered as he went back inside. We looked at each other fearfully. The bag started moving jerkily, quite violently even, as if something were going to spring forth from it.

“Guys, run!” A familiar voice shouted. Jasper was running up the sidewalk with the rest of our friends behind him and being chased by a horde of fast, freakish, almost zombie-like creatures. A thought popped into my head, and I pulled Monica away from the trash bag and into the street as another one of those scary creatures burst from the bag, shrieking like a bat or rodent. Our friends detoured into the street to avoid the thing that had just spawned on the sidewalk; they picked us up off the pavement as they continued up the block. There had to be a kicker though: we couldn’t keep up with them; Neither Monica nor I were wearing our roller skates. It wasn’t long before we were trailing behind.

“Travis!” Monica shrieked, screaming. One of those things had ahold of her jacket. Seeing no other option, I clasped my hand over the Believer mark on my wrist, morphing into my believer form. Please, let me be right, I thought. Focusing my mind to a tiger’s instinct, I thought of unsheathing my claws. Sure enough, (thank goodness) I got them, and I attacked the creatures around Monica, slashing at their arms and faces. They hissed and screeched as I grabbed Monica’s wrist and pulled her away from them. I carried her and Corazon on my back as I ran from the freakish monsters.

“What the heck are those things?!” I shouted at Jasper, since he seemed to know everything we needed to know at a given time like this. He looked back at me and… laughed?

“They’re called Minions, Believers, and believe it or not, these guys are so holding back on us!” He shouted back. “I think Trevor’s just toying with you guys!”

“Hypothetically,” J-C called. “What would they do if they caught us?”

“I’ll tell you as soon as we outrun them!”

“That raises another question actually.” Keith shouted as Randy pulled him away from one of the Minions. “Where are we going?!”

“We’re going to Mission Control, like I told you yesterday!” Suddenly, in a flash of bright light, there were about twelve more of those Minions on the street in front of us. We cried out in horror; Trevor could just spawn these things out of thin air now?! How did he even know where we were?

The Minions wasted no time in forming a circle around us and tightening it until we had no chance of escape on our own. It was now that we realized that about twenty of those things had been following behind us, and I saw one of them with a camera lens strapped to its head.

“Well, we know how Trevor saw us.” Elliott muttered bitterly.

“I think this would be a good time to tell us what happens now, Jasper.” Laura said nervously.

“Well,” Jasper chuckled. “We had better duck first.” Just as he said that, there was a hail of crackling, similar to a paintball gun. Over that sound, there was the loud noise of an engine. The Minions began to scatter as a motorcycle passed through their crowd. On that motorcycle, the Reynolds sisters waved to us, the young redhead sporting what looked like a hunting rifle.

“Let’s move, boys and girls!” she called to us, and we decided to follow them as they sped off down the street and right out of the neighborhood. Whatever Minions remained behind us refused to continue the pursuit as we entered the city. I continued to carry Monica on my back, her being there kept anyone from seeing my tail; I admit I blushed when she put her hat on my head to cover my ears. Unfortunately, it didn’t do much to cover my orange-and-black striped skin; not to mention my feet were still bare. That was just unfortunate because the sidewalk concrete was kind of cold. The Reynolds Sisters had weaved through the little traffic on the city streets and were now out of sight, but Jasper continued leading us like we were on a regular walk.

“Okay, Jasper, fess up.” J-C called. “Why are you always all lackadaisical when those Hexalians show up? There’s something you aren’t telling us, isn’t there?”

“First off, I can’t believe you know lackadaisical; secondly, I don’t know what it means; and thirdly, yes, I am holding back from you guys, but I told you, I’ll explain when we get there.”

“Where is this ‘there’ you keep mentioning?” Britney asked, trying to corral her three energetic dogs.” Jasper just chuckled as we came to the city’s Fitness Center. We all knew that pets weren’t allowed in the building; but of course Jasper “had it covered” and he led us inside. As we approached the desk, the clerk went on high alert.

“Hey!” He shouted. “No minors in here without an adult! And no pets!”

“It’s called safety in numbers. Look it up.” Jasper huffed snidely. He pulled out a small book with a folded piece of paper stuffed into it and set it on the counter. We looked at each other in confusion as the clerk whispered to a security guard and nodded to Jasper. The guard came from behind the counter and motioned for us to follow him. Our now very shady friend Jasper followed the guard, and we just followed him. We were led to the very far back of the Center, to a door marked “Employees Only” in blue letters. That did strike me as a little odd, as I’ve only seen those words in red letters, or white letters on a red sign. But color palettes couldn’t be that important, right? The guard unlocked the door and let us in, but didn’t follow us. We were back in the care of Jasper, who led us to the door at the back of the hall. Behind the door, the Reynolds Sisters sat waiting.

“Oh, thank goodness you guys are alright!” the redhead Reynolds cried happily. “We were starting to worry.” The raven-haired one cleared her throat.

“Uh, right.” The redhead continued. “We’ve called you all here to tell you what you’re truly up against. We tell you this now, because it’s becoming clear that we have less time to prepare than we originally thought. Jasper, if you would?”

“Okay, peoples, listen up!” Jasper began. “As you know, Trevor has been making attempts to capture you. Although, not very wholehearted ones, as I mentioned earlier. In any real crisis situation, there would have been no way we’d outrun those Minions, especially not Trevor’s. So, he was either sending out someone else’s Minions or holding back. I choose to go with the latter, because I know Trevor wouldn’t pass up a chance to scare the Believers, especially if they were kids.”

“How do you know so much about Trevor anyway?” Britney asked.

“Which brings me to the next part!” Jasper declared, ignoring her question. “Now, you may have noticed in that chase that Monica was momentarily captured. Monica, did it really seem like they were going to hurt you at all?” Monica looked around, almost shyly.

“Well, no…” she recalled. “One of them was tickling me, I think.” Jasper simply nodded.

“As expected, that brings me to the most important part of this speech… You’ve got to promise not to laugh, all right?”

Randy scoffed. “Well, why would we--?”

“Trevor Bansel, as well as most Hexalians, could be considered a tickle monster…” There was an awkward pause…

Do I even have to tell you how hard we were laughing? But, can you really blame us? It was pretty funny when you think about it. I noticed Jasper checking the clock on the wall.

“You know, back in my day, a promise lasted a lot longer than thirty seconds!” he scolded.

“We never promised, remember?” Randy laughed. Jasper sighed.

“Guys, come on.” He began again. “I know, this information kinda killed the atmosphere, but this is serious.” When we were finally able to get ourselves under control, Jasper continued.

“Okay, so. The Reynolds Sisters kind of had an encounter with Trevor over the last couple days. They let me know that they’ve been fitted with shock bracelets, and if they say any of your names at any given time, they’ll be electrocuted. Also, their house is filled to the rafters with Trevor’s Minion Gloves acting as security guards to make sure they can’t get phone calls or postal messages out.

“Then how would they have contacted you?” Riley asked.

“The Reynolds Sisters have three ferrets in their house; we normally refer to them as the Trifecta. One of them, Twinkle Toes, was able to sneak out of the house with this note lodged in his collar and get to my house. Susan was able to pretend that he’d run off without her knowing, and it threw the Minions off our trail…” he checked the clock. “Unfortunately, it seems we’re out of time, and we should probably clear out.”

“It’s only ten o'clock.” I observed. “We’ve got plenty of time.” As I finished my sentence, a quiet steady beeping could be heard in the room.

“Actually we don’t.” the raven haired Reynolds murmured. “These bracelets are like house arrest cuffs. If we disappear from the house too long, the gloves will come looking for us with a tracking device. That beeping signifies how close the device is to our position. It’ll get faster and louder the closer it gets.”

“That sounds kind of creepy…” Britney murmured as the beeping slowly grew louder and faster.

“Indeed… We should probably beat it before they find the motorcycle.” Both sisters stood up, followed by me and my friends. As we were preparing to leave, the beeping reached a crescendo, and the grate on the ventilation shaft burst off of the ceiling.

“Run…” Redhead Reynolds murmured, nudging us out the door as a few disembodied, floating white gloves lowered into the room. “Run!” I felt her shove me, and all of us immediately ran down the dark hallway. The Reynolds Sisters were following us as Jasper got the door open and held it for us. Just as we ran out, we heard the younger sister shriek. Looking back, the gloves had a strong hold of her and pulled her back.

“Susan!” Jasper cried, reaching for her hand, Britney’s dogs were barking like mad, pulling on their leashes. One of the gloves lashed out of the dark hall, shoving Jasper away from the door and the young woman. The spring-loaded door slammed shut, immediately locking.

“No, Susan!” the older sister shouted. “Dang it! Well, this day won’t end well… You kids get home… Quickly, and don’t you dare look back; I need to get going as well.” She ran out of the building, and minutes later, we saw her ride off on her motorcycle through the large window. Jasper rubbed his shoulder as he stood up; he motioned us to follow him, and without thinking, we let him take each of us home. I’d somehow gotten home before my parents had even woken up, and I could only hope the same for the others. As Maize and I went back to my bedroom, I thought I heard a chattering. I disregarded it and lay down on my bed, setting Maize on the nightstand. I closed my eyes, somewhat exhausted, but then a shiver ran down my spine… I was being watched. I dared to look up above me.

Three of those zombie-Minions were clinging to the ceiling like spiders. I forced myself not to scream, knowing that it probably wouldn’t help. They smirked at me (I think) and launched themselves at my bed. Since I was still in my Believer form, my reflexes were even faster than usual, and I dove out of the way. Maize would have helped, I’m sure, but she was overtaken by a coughing fit. I was on my own, so I opened my claws and waited for a false move. It seemed they got sick of waiting and one lashed out at me. I snarled, lashing at it with my claws, it deftly dodged me, but I tore through the white glove that covered one of its hands. It howled in pain and I stood confused.

“Travis?!” Marinae called from the other side of the hallway. “What’s all that noise?” The Minion shoved me to the floor and all three Minions dove out of my open window. I quickly morphed out of my Believer form and turned on the television in the corner of my room as my sister opened the door.

“Uh, just the television…” I said, praying she’d buy it. She stared at me, but eventually rolled her eyes and left, closing the door. I collapsed on my bed; now, I was definitely exhausted… 


	23. Chapter 22

Why? That’s the only question he had. Elliott walked through the halls of the school, his hood pulled up over his rabbit ears. The others had forged a doctor’s note saying he wouldn’t be in class today, and then they snuck him into the building through the fire escape. He was walking through the sixth floor hallway, where high school freshmen and sophomores had classes. The high school grades functioned differently than the lower school, but Elliot knew some of the teachers on this floor, so he knew what to look for and when. Travis had also told him to check on the classes that had their siblings in them, so he kept that in mind as well. But why did he have to do it? This seemed much more like a job for Monica.

Being in his Believer form, as per usual, his feet were bare; so the so-called carpet tickled his soles. He glanced up at the clock, realizing that he had about an hour to collect information. He started with the room of the Greek language teacher, who was a close friend of his father. Peeking in through the window on the door, he saw a room full of students, but their teacher was definitely not anyone he knew. He took a mental note and went round the halls as fast as possible, looking into each room with a teacher he knew of. It was official; something was up. None of the original teachers were in their classrooms; they were all replaced by “substitutes”. He sighed, continuing on. He glanced at the security cameras, then down at his hands. In one hand, he dangled a pair of gym shoes by the laces. Travis had given them to him that morning, and there were scorch marks on the soles and laces. Even now, the shoes had a certain warmth coming from them, as well as the odor of burnt sweat, if such a scent even exists.

“Hey!” bellowed a voice behind him as he got to the staircase to the lower floor. Without thinking, he started running. As he regained whatever composure he probably didn’t have to begin with, he stopped on the second floor, which, in all technicality was the ground floor. He suddenly realized that in his haste, he’d dropped the sneakers somewhere, but he didn’t really see it necessary to go look for them. He looked up at the clock again; there wasn’t much time left until recess, which is where he’d check in with Travis and the others to let them know what he’d found. He wondered what he should do until then, since technically, he wasn’t even supposed to be there.

Then he stopped, a soft voice reached his ears through the hoodie. He inched toward the wall and walked along it, the voices reaching a peak volume near the school office. Whoa… This had bad idea written all over it. The phrase “Curiosity killed the cat” repeated over and over in his mind… But he’d been sent to gather information, and even though he’d kick himself later, he dared to enter the office. It was very dark, and he couldn’t see the floor at all. Such a fact didn’t sit well with him, knowing of all those movie dungeons with tripwires and such. He noticed a soft light from the floor though, that wasn’t there at all a moment before. He saw a circle of neon blue light radiated from his bare feet. He knew this was some kind of Believer ability; now, if he could control it…

Focusing his energy and mind, he willed the light to cover a greater area, and almost immediately, his hands flew to cover his mouth and silence a scream of panic. His heart was pounding out of his chest as he looked around the now dimly lit room. What was once the Reynolds Sisters’ office was now a dark cave full of sleeping Minions. The odd thing was that they weren’t as zombie-like as they were when he’d first seen them. They looked almost like normal people. You know, if normal people could curl up like cats without being contortionists, and cling to ceilings and walls without some kind of technology--while sleeping, mind you-- and not be a mutant. Also scattered along the floor was a web of tripwires, all of which connected to what appeared to be a large alarm bell on Redhead Reynolds’s desk. Oh, man…he thought. If these things wake up…

He reached for the doorknob; this wasn’t worth it. Especially not after the miniature heart attack he got just from lighting up the room. As he turned the knob, he was only more terrified to find it locked from the outside. Now, that was just confusing. Unfortunately, because he couldn’t get out of the office, he now had no excuse as to why he didn’t look for information here. He turned around reluctantly, and went about navigating the room, around the wires and Minions, over to the Principal’s Office door, where voices continued to leak from. Softly leaning against the door on his fingertips, he pulled back his hood and pressed his ear to the door.

“Sir, all of our agents have been set in place.” A young male’s voice stated.

“And they have their orders for Friday.” A woman added.

“Very nice…” Trevor praised. “What of the teachers and faculty?”

“They’ve been secured, sir.” The male responded.

“Good, and my main crew?”

“They are prepared for your scheduled ambush, Trevor” the female continued.

“Ah, wonderful, this week is going to be awesome…”

Elliott found himself leaning slightly more, when suddenly, one of his hands slipped from under his weight, his head hitting the metal door.

“What the--?” he heard Trevor cry out. He scrambled backwards in a panic; his first step broke a tripwire. He didn’t notice, but apparently it was a false trigger; that or just a dud. His second step, however, definitely wasn’t. His heel hit one of the Minions, and in an instant, it gripped his ankle and yanked it from under him, dropping him to the floor and breaking several wires. The alarm went off and the lights flashed on, blinding him for just a second as all the Minions awoke and bounded toward him, several pinning him to the floor. …Make that attempting to pin him down. For a well-known coward, Elliott was a very good fighter. His speed was unbelievable, and he had extremely fast kicks. The Minions, however, had a weak point that would send them running; of course, since he wasn’t exactly damaging said point, the creatures continuously attacked. The young Believer realized that some kind of shield around the inside of the room had been raised, which must have been soundproof, if no one could hear the ruckus this was causing. He was backed against the wall now, his shoulder hitting a secondary light switch and darkening the room again. The soft neon blue dimly lit up the room again, and the glowing red eyes of the Minions advanced on him.

His heart was racing now; he was a coward, sure, but he’d never been this scared before. He crossed his hands over his chest, a bad habit of his when he was afraid. The Minions were prepared to strike when a dazzling blue light began radiating from the boy’s hands. The neon light at his feet was absorbed through his body and came from his hands as an orb of brightly flashing energy. Elliott winced, a stinging pain running through his entire core. The orb suddenly exploded, creating a small field of energy just big enough to contain him and all the Minions in the room. There was a significant lack of gravity in the field, and everyone, and nearly everything, in the room rose off the floor. The field suddenly retracted back to an orb, and then in the same instant, burst back outward, slamming all the Minions and Elliott onto the walls, ceiling, and floor; the blast shattered the window in the room and put very noticeable dents in the Office doors.

Trevor and his two assistants walked into the office and found the light switch. With the lights on, it was clear that the Believer kid was more powerful than he knew. Trevor, of course, knew the kids would attempt something this week, but he didn’t think one of them had the Graviton Drive already. The room was in slight shambles, looking like a maniac had been through it with a sledgehammer. The Minions were all gone, leaving no remains besides fabric pieces from shredded gloves. Which was odd, considering how the Drive couldn’t really tear or cut through anything. Just underneath the shattered broken window, Trevor noticed the young Believer unconscious on the floor. Hitting that wall behind him couldn’t have been very enjoyable, as confirmed by the small line of blood on the boy’s forehead. Trevor chuckled though; an opportunity like this didn’t come often.

“Clean this place up.” He ordered his assistants as he ordered his Minion Gloves to lift Elliott off the floor. “I’ll tend to this child…”

Elliott awoke to a headache, not to mention the realization that his hoodie was gone and he was chained to a wall. He was still in his Believer form, but his rabbit ears were pinned down against his head by a bandage. His ankles were shackled to the floor; a tile floor, he noted, but something seemed odd about it.

“Well, what do you know?” a familiar voice laughed. “The runt’s awake.” Elliott cowered at the voice as Trevor and Zachary came into view. They were about two or three yards away, beyond a Plexiglas window.

“That’s almost a shame.” Zachary sighed. “I was ready to shock him awake.” He reached down to a control panel that Elliott could just barely see and turned a dial. The Believer felt a sharp shock from the tile floor, yelping as he jumped in his shackles. It wasn’t a painful shock, mind you…

“What is it with you people and tickling?” Elliott dared to ask, chewing his lower lip. Both Hexalians stared at him like he asked why people can’t see air.

“Truthfully, we don’t know.” Trevor snickered. “But it’s a trait Hexalians have had for centuries.” He placed his hand on top of Zachary’s and turned the dial further. The electric current became more intense, and Elliott giggled helplessly as the current shocked the soles of his feet. Even if he could avoid this torture, he had metal shackles, and could feel the electricity coursing through them as well. Trevor dialed down the current and smirked.

“Now then.” He began. “What can you tell us about the Believers’ plans to stop me?” Elliott’s ear twitched at such a question. For some reason, he felt he needed to bluff his way through this, which to him, would have normally been a stupid idea.

“Well, I could tell you.” He snickered. “But what would I get out of that? My friends would kill me.”

“Would you prefer I kill you?” Trevor asked simply, quickly turning the dial to its maximum setting before dialing back, making Elliott jump in surprise. “I’m sure you realize that I could just ‘forget’ to shut this thing off.”

“Well…” Elliott tried to think of another lie; he remembered Trevor had said something about… Friday, was it? “We did have something planned for you Friday.” Trevor just laughed at the shackled child, turning the dial up. Elliott bit his lip, trying not to laugh.

“You had something planned?” Trevor chuckled, toying with the dial, turning the intensity randomly up and down. “Well, I guess I could give you a hint… In saying that you won’t live to see Friday!”

“W-What?!” Elliott shouted, then he succumbed to the electricity, laughing and pulling on his shackles. He would definitely get Travis for this. If Monica had taken the mission, there’s no way this would have happened! He didn’t know how long the electricity ran for, but the next voice he heard was Trevor’s.

“Zachary, anesthetic.” The last thing he saw was Zachary’s fist coming at his face…

Meanwhile, in a guest room upstairs, a familiar redheaded woman struggled against the leather cuffs holding her to a recliner.

“You’d think if he loves me so much, he’d go easy on me.” She muttered. She blindly turned her head, trying to see through the blindfold over her eyes. Her struggling was interrupted by soft hands gripping her waist. There was a gentle squeeze on her hips that drew giggles and kneading that brought a squealing laugh. They pulled away and there was a “peaceful” silence; she heard someone take a breath, only to be thrown into screaming hysteria when that someone blew on her stomach. Teasing fingers glided almost aimlessly along her belly and waistline.

“If I’d known you were so sensitive here, I would’ve kidnapped you a long time ago.” The Heartless Angel laughed. Susan chewed her lip and writhed.

“You’ve held me here for two days! I will get you for this, you--” she was interrupted by Trevor blowing on her stomach again and making her shriek. “Would you stop that?! I’m having a monologue for Gods’ sakes! I can’t even see you…”

“Would you like to see me, love?” he teased her.

“I’d like you to shut up…”

“Really? That’s an easy fix.” She heard him step away, but then felt earplugs being shoved into her ears. Her head was tipped forward as Trevor untied her blindfold and tossed it away. He reached into his briefcase and pulled out a black feather duster, smirking evilly at her as his eyes glowed faintly.

“Are you ready, love?” she read his lips as he spoke to her deafened form. Her eyes widened as he advanced on her helplessness.

After what felt like an eternity, Susan was exhausted, still giggling as she tried to hang onto a thread of her sanity. Trevor leaned on the recliner, now bored with his feather duster.

“What else is in my briefcase, I wonder?” he teased; having removed her earplugs earlier, he got to relish in her reaction to that statement.

“Wh-Why are you doing this again?” Susan asked, trying to stall.

“To tease and tickle you until you break, love. Nothing more.”

“And what do you get out of that?”

“You begging for mercy; those beautiful rubies in your eyes sparkling with tears as you try to escape my torture, knowing that it’s a futile effort. All the while, I torture you slowly until you’re nothing but my mindless, giggling toy.” Susan blinked, very unnerved, and stumbled over her speech as she tried to find something else to say.

“Uh…Do you have any other projects right now?” she asked finally, not even really knowing what she wanted. Trevor stopped examining the screwdriver he’d picked up and smirked at her.

“Well, since I’m in a good mood; I see it only fair that I tell you that I also captured one of the Believers today.”

“Which one?”

“The kid with the rabbit ears; you know, that little coward, Elliott. Apparently, he’d been sneaking around the school.” Susan stared at him blankly, thinking back to all the times those kids let Elliott wander around alone. She found herself laughing, with Trevor now playing the confused one.

“Trevor Bansel,” Susan giggled. “If you knew those kids half as well as I do, you’d know that you can’t take your eyes off them. I doubt you’ll have Elliott for long.”

As if on cue, there was an explosion downstairs. Trevor jumped to his feet and ran down to see Travis and the other Believers hauling Elliott’s limp form up from the basement. Monica looked back and saw him glaring at them.

“Guys, we’re spotted!” she shrieked. He advanced on them menacingly, and they backed toward the wall. Britney was going through her pockets frantically, eventually pulling out a whistle and blowing it. Trevor flinched and gripped his ears, as if in agony; at the same time, Britney’s three dogs tackled him, pinning him to the floor as the children ran away; the dogs stayed on him for a full five minutes before finally rushing out the door. Trevor stood up in a huff, going downstairs to check the basement.

It was a mess, as he predicted. Zachary was knocked senseless, and paint was splattered everywhere. He found a small canister containing the remains of what had been a few ounces of explosive material and about half a can’s worth of paint. The splattering of paint had shorted out the electric floor and its control panel, effectively deactivating them. His rage building, Trevor flung the canister across the room, causing it to dent upon impact with the wall. He suddenly thought of something, he turned on his heel to run up the stairs as fast as possible.

By the time he got to the room Susan had been in, he found a silent chamber with an empty chair. He snarled and ran to the window; looking out, he saw the Believers running like stampeding bison and Susan escaping by way of her sister’s motorcycle. He turned and saw the two electric cuffs he’d put on the sisters shattered to pieces, as if smashed with a hammer. He growled in frustration, his eyes starting to glow dark purple; his hand came to his forehead as he tried to calm himself. He knew snapping would get him nowhere, not to mention there was no one in the house to snap at.

“I…” He muttered to himself. “Those kids are so dead…”


	24. Chapter 23

After rescuing Elliott and Ms. Susan from behind enemy lines, I admit we were feeling a little invincible. As we walked to school the next day, we took the long way to avoid passing Trevor’s house.

“That was the scariest thing I’ve ever done…” Elliott whined, pulling on one of his rabbit ears. The odd thing about that was the fact that he wasn’t in his believer form, but his ears were just… there.

“What’s with the ears?” I asked out loud. Jasper reached into Britney’s backpack and pulled out the Red Hexal Tome or whatever it was. He opened it and thumbed through pages.

“Uh, according to this,” he began, “‘Believers’ markings or form appendages may form when under extreme stress, sorrow, or even happiness.’ Feeling stressed, Bunny Boy?”

“Kind of…” Elliott admitted. “Remember what I told you? Trevor’s got something huge planned for Friday. And he told me we won’t be alive to see it!”

“Yes, we remember.” Timmy sighed, huddling close to Elliott as a chilling wind blew by. “Y-You don’t think we’re going to be swarmed by Minions again, do you?”

“I hope not.” Keith said. “We’re pretty far from Trevor’s place, so that would be scary.”

“Especially the way they look!” Randy taunted, trying to scare us. “With their long, boney arms, grotesque faces and--”

“Stop!” Monica shouted, clinging to me. Randy and J-C laughed.

“Come on, guys!” J-C chuckled. “He’s a tickle monster! We’re not kindergarteners anymore, we shouldn’t be afraid of such silliness, right?”

“Well, considering the fact that you still hide from your brother during Suburban Sibling Hunt, I’d say you have no right to say such a thing.” Riley declared.

“That’s an entirely different situation and you know it!” J-C shouted back.

“When you think about it though, Riley, remember when we were in kindergarten?” Ray mentioned. “Suburban Sibling Hunt was a whole different game.” We laughed at the memory; that was before Ray and Riley’s older sister, Mira, moved out of their house. Honestly, she was like Trevor, in the sense that she would tickle us silly if we ever messed around too much. She seemed to rub off on our older siblings too, because it was nothing but laughs up until last year, when she moved in with her boyfriend across town.

“Y’know something?” Keith piped up, walking backwards in front of the rest of us. “I bet Trevor might be ticklish too.” We laughed, Randy ruffling his hair.

“In our dreams, maybe.” He sneered. “It’d be easy to beat him then.”

“Well, he’s got a point.” Timmy agreed, lifting the younger one’s spirit. “He did say might, and none of us would be able to get close to him without getting attacked ourselves, so we don’t know.” Jasper chuckled.

“You guys have a lot to learn about Hexalians, it seems.” He smirked.

“Oh, and you would know whether or not Trevor’s ticklish?” Ray smirked, poking Jasper’s side and making him flinch.

“What I know, is that we need to hustle if we want to beat the late bell.” He smiled, dodging another attack from Ray and running down the block. Jasper is surprisingly fast for a kid; he could outrun us even at our top skating speed. I remember Britney telling me that Trevor could keep a surprisingly small distance between them when he had chased her that day…

As we got to school, we realized it was exactly like Elliott had said; none of the regular teachers were there. It was all substitute teachers. All except for the Reynolds Sisters, who quickly approached us as we walked into the building. They looked around hastily, and Ms. Susan leaned and whispered into my ear.

“Remember when I told you I was here on Friday?” she asked. We nodded; it’s not that we didn’t want to talk to Ms. Reynolds, but we were almost late for class, in which case, we’d need to go to the principal and get a late slip. I’m sure you can figure out why we didn’t want that to happen. We still didn’t know what happened to kids who got in trouble with Trevor. We certainly didn’t imagine it to be a good thing.

“Well,” Ms. Reynolds continued, leading us up to the second floor, past our classroom; her sister went into the office as we passed it. “Like I said, Elliott was right about the substitutes. All of the original teachers are gone. In fact, it’s the entire staff. Recess aids, the cafeteria workers, librarian, even the nurses and the janitor are gone.”

“They got Mr. Jones?” Keith worried.

“Afraid so, kids. But they sure didn’t leave the janitor’s closet empty.” She pulled a small water pistol from her pocket and sprayed the security cameras around us; they sparked and smoked, the recording lights going out. She sat us down in the hall and pulled out her wallet, pulling a small stack of pictures from it.

“I know doing this in the hall is a bit stupid, but like I said, Trevor has agents everywhere, meaning spies everywhere. There’s nowhere else we can go.” She spread the pictures out on the floor, motioning us to sit around her. As we did, she passed around the photos.

“I took these pictures on Friday inside the janitor’s closet. I’m just lucky my camera has a satellite connection that transfers the pictures to someone else, or Trevor would have gotten them.” --She pointed to one of the pictures; small green jars were lined up along the shelves in the closet--“You can see these jars here. They’re filled with chloroform. You know what that is, right?”

“I do.” Monica said. “It’s that stuff that kidnappers use to knock people out…” She muttered something after that, and we stared at her. Her breath hitched as she looked at us.

“What?!” she asked, sounding offended. It also sounded a bit like she was holding back tears. I put an arm around her and she leaned on my shoulder.

“Well, she’s right.” Susan continued. “Trevor and his goons have been kidnapping the teachers and taking their places. And according to hearsay, there’s something about a big attack on Friday morning that will seal the deal on this school. All the students will be taken hostage and the parents will have to submit to imprisonment if they want to see their kids again. And then the police will do the same to get the parents back, then the mayor, and then Ohio’s senator, and then it’ll probably go right up to the president. And after that the whole country’s shot to-- Well, you know…” She put the pictures back in her wallet.

“So you’re saying…” Randy deduced. “That we now have less than a week to prepare to stop an attack that could affect the entire country?!”

“I’m sorry to say yes.”

“Glorious…” Laura muttered.

“Yeah, it’s fan-flipping-tastic, right?” J-C huffed. Susan sighed, rubbing her forehead.

“I’m very sorry that this was your fate, kids.” She told us, her voice breaking. “But I can swear to you now, that-- that Janice and I will do anything and everything we can to protect you and help you guys. And I’m sorry, but no matter what we do, in the end it comes down to you and your power to truly stop this.” We could see that she was holding back tears, and we couldn’t help hugging her tightly. She sighed and rubbed her eyes and smiled at us.

“Jasper, please…” She nodded to him.

“Alright, Believers, on your feet!” Jasper ordered, helping us all up. “We are beyond late for class, so here’s what we’re gonna do. After Ms. Reynolds gets together we’re gonna do some manual labor.” We all stared at him curiously.

“Won’t that be fun?” He smiled. We chuckled and rolled our eyes.

It was after recess by the time we actually got to class. Trevor was standing in the classroom with Melanie as we walked in, and we could only hope the best for Keith, who was, of course, on his own. We handed them the note Susan had written for us. Trevor chuckled, a smirk on his face.

“Take your seats, kids. I’ll see you later, guys.” He left the room nonchalantly.

This “being late” to class thing became a routine for the next two days. Jasper and Susan never once told us what was in the boxes, or why we were moving them to the room under the stage in the auditorium. The room was larger than I remember; most of the stuff was gone.

Trevor had said we wouldn’t live to see Friday. I lay my head warily on my pillow Thursday night, and Maize sat in the windowsill, still worried.


	25. Chapter 24

Trevor stood in his front yard, staring into the night sky. Orion lay next to him sleepily but loyally, wanting to make sure his master wouldn’t be seen by any humans while he did this. It was about 11:30 on Thursday, November 19th.

“Trevor?” Melanie said nervously as she approached him. “There’s something I’ve been meaning to tell you…”

“I’m sorry to ask if it can wait. We need to get this done tonight. You can tell me after.” He stood up as Zachary and Fillmore stepped out of the house.

“We’re ready, Trevor.” Zachary stated stoically, and Trevor nodded in a similar fashion. Fillmore glanced at Melanie, who shrugged; he just sighed and took his assigned position on the lawn. Melanie did the same, about twenty feet from Fillmore. Trevor stepped between them, an equal distance from both, and Zachary stood against the fence, ten feet from Fillmore.

“All right, gentlemen and Melanie,” Trevor began. “This is where we put an end to the Believers’ interference. This is certainly not something I would normally do…” he bit down on his lip. “But I consulted the Royals, and I have my orders. Let’s do this…” All four Hexalians snapped their fingers on both hands, bringing a faint glow to their gloves; They all performed a series of elaborate motions with their hands.

“Wide-Range Frenzy.” Trevor ordered; gigantic swarms of Minion Gloves from each Hexalian flew into the night sky, scattering to find their targets.

“And now, our part.” Trevor sneered. “You all know where you’re going.” He climbed onto Orion’s back, the griffin standing up and running up the street. Fillmore kissed Melanie’s cheek before mounting a bicycle; Melanie had been ordered to stay home after Trevor witnessed her having a vomiting episode earlier that evening. She rubbed her stomach softly as she watched Fillmore and Zachary leave.

How could a kid be expected to sleep on a night like this?! Randy thought. And it wasn’t even his insomnia talking this time. His older brother’s occasional unconscious bursts of speech weren’t helping. He would normally take this opportunity to listen in and maybe pick up something for the gossip crowd at school, but tonight he needed to sleep, so when Lionel went on something about Vanessa and hot lips, he drew the line; he pulled a toy dart gun from under his pillow and fired across the room, hitting Lionel on his closed eye.

“Ouch!” He shouted, instantly awoken. “What the heck, Randy?!”

“Listen here, Hot Lips!” Randy shouted back. “I have a really important…” --he searched for a word-- “thing at school tomorrow and I need to sleep! So you either need to shut your face or go sleep on the couch! Otherwise, I’m getting mom’s scarf again!” Lionel huffed, rubbing his eye and lying down again and going back to sleep, and Randy did the same. Just over five minutes later, Randy heard a faint murmuring again.

“That’s it.” He snarled. “Lionel, I--”

“That wasn’t me, shorty.” Lionel called to him; he was pressing his ear to the wall near Randy’s bed, obviously straining to hear something. “You hear that too, I guess. I heard a crash earlier… Come here.” Randy got out of bed, kneeling beside his brother and leaning on the wall as well.

“But this is Keith’s room…” Randy mentioned. 

“Help!” came a scream from the next room. Both boys jumped to their feet, darting out of their room and over to Keith’s room. There was a clatter coming from beyond the door, as well as Keith’s shrieking and cries for help. Randy wasted no time in opening the door; he cried out as a few dozen Minion Gloves grabbed him by his shirt and yanked him into the room, slamming and locking the door and leaving Lionel in the hall.

“Hey!” the teenager shouted, pulling on the doorknob. “Let me in! What the heck’s going on in there?! Guys!” 

“Kinda busy right now!” Randy shouted back, his back in a corner with the Minion Gloves converging on him.

“Randy!” Keith called; Randy glanced toward the closet to see his kid brother peeking from the slightly cracked closet door. With little, meaning no, choice, he dashed under the cloud of gloves and into the closet, holding the door closed while the gloves fought him to open it.

“Just lock it!” Keith shrieked, huddled in the corner with Mordecai in his arms.

“Closets don’t have locks, stupid!” Randy snarled. “W-Where’s that jump rope you got from that garage sale?” Keith went digging around the closet floor and eventually came up with an almost ridiculously long jump rope; he had a knack for finding toys with factory errors.

“What do I--?” Keith stammered.

“Tie one end to the door, fool!” Randy snapped, and Keith tied the rope around the doorknob, careful to avoid his brother’s hands. Randy cautiously took his hands off the knob, gripping the rope as well.

“Okay… Now tie the other end to something really heavy.” Randy panted. Keith wrapped the jump rope twice around the leg of his toy chest in the far corner of the closet, then tied the end of the rope to the doorknob. Randy eased his hands off the rope nervously, the gloves still rattling the doorknob and pounding on the door.

“You know, for a runt, you know your physics.” The older brother panted, giving a smile that did its best to cover his fear. Keith wasn’t even trying to hide his fear, but he nodded gratefully to his brother’s praise. He picked up his skunk plush, Raphael, holding it tightly to his chest as if it were his very life source. Randy sighed, running a hand through his hair, almost as if reactivating his own mind. He dug through his younger brother’s closet, eventually coming up with a shoebox. Inside it was one of those cheap emergency phones that runs on the same power as an LED light so it would almost never die. It could only store 3 phone numbers, two of them preset to 911 and their father’s phone.

“Call the police.” Keith said in a panic.

“Yeah, sure.” Randy said back. “Let’s just call the police and tell them our house is full of disembodied hands being controlled by a bunch of freaky characters from another planet.” Keith didn’t an explanation. Randy knew better than to call his father, especially after seeing the gloves lock Lionel in the hall. With no other choice, he speed-dialed the last number.

In a house up the block, a phone rang on a nightstand. The first in the room to stir was lying in a sleeping bag on the floor.

“Is it morning already?” he mumbled, rubbing sleep from his eyes. The pink kitten beside him stayed fast asleep. When he saw the night sky outside the locked window, he stood up and walked over to his temporary roommate’s bed; he slapped his sleeping friend about the head with the pillow until he was awake and flailing.

“Elliott!” he shouted. “What are you doing?!

“Timmy, why is your phone ringing?!” Elliott shot back. Timmy laughed, more so in pure confusion than anything else, before answering the phone, which had a separate number from the rest of the house. “Hello?”

“Timmy?” a voice came from the receiver.

“Randy?” Timmy asked back, groaning as he looked at the clock. “Look, man, I don’t know what time you think it is, but my clock says it’s nearly midnight. What do you want?”

“Why do you have Timmy as an emergency number?” Mordecai asked.

“Shh,” Randy snapped. “Listen, Wise Owl; we figured out what Trevor meant when he said we wouldn’t live to see Friday…” By now, Timmy had set the phone to speaker, and a loud thump on Randy’s end of the line startled all four boys.

“W-What’s going on over there?!” Elliott asked, handing Timmy his glasses

“Keith’s room is being overrun with Minion Gloves! And we’re hiding in a closet, an-- Keith… the rope’s slipping…”

“W-What?!” Keith cried. There was a loud clatter once again, with Randy now speaking in a rushed panic.

“J-Just listen.” He said into the phone. “The best I can give you is to get out of your house. They lock you in a room and put up a force field to trap you. There’s no way Trevor’s hitting just our house tonight--” There was a loud crash and Keith screamed, his cries dissolving into laughter. “--Y-You guys have to hurry! Call the others! H-Hurry!” Randy’s own laughter came through the phone seconds later. Timmy shivered and put the receiver on the hook, cutting off the sounds. Beside him, Elliott seemed terrified, his rabbit ears trembling on his head.

“Come on.” Timmy beckoned semi-bravely, snatching Elliott by the hand and leading him into the hall. As they stepped out though, Elliott gripped Timmy’s pajama shirt before he could go down the stairs, yanking him back and putting a hand over his mouth. Timmy blushed faintly beside himself as Elliott guided him into the shadows at the top of the stairs. The older boy motioned his friend to be quiet and lie flat on his belly in the shadows while trained his rabbit ears on a distant voice.

“Such an irresponsible sitter.” A male voice from the lower floor mused, a chuckle in his voice. From their position in the shadows, they saw Fillmore carrying a teenage boy: the babysitter who was supposed to watch them while Timmy’s parents worked the night shift at the hospital and Elliott’s father was out of town. Fillmore all but dumped the boy in the coat closet, stealing a passing glance up the stairs. A very broad sneer appeared across his face.

“Did he just see us?” Timmy whispered. Fillmore just chuckled and pointed in their direction; a swarm of bright green gloves came rushing at them. Elliott pulled Timmy off the floor and the boys ran back to Timmy’s room, slamming the door shut against the horde of gloves. They weren’t giving in without a fight, constantly trying to push the door open against the two boys. One glove forced its way through the cracked door and dug its fingers into Timmy’s side. The smaller boy started laughing, his weight on the door starting to fail.

“L-Lock the door!” Timmy called through his laughter, leaning just enough on the door to keep it closed for a few seconds. Elliott quickly flipped the lock, both boys finally relaxing against the door frame. That is, until Timmy started laughing again. The glove had slipped under his shirt and now devoted its attention to his stomach. Elliott watched nervously as Timmy convulsed in near hysterics. He went over to his sleeping bag and began harassing it. He rolled it into a ball before vigorously shaking it until it yowled and cried out.

“Okay! I’m awake!” It shouted. Daisy squeezed her way out of the rolled sleeping bag and onto the floor, licking one paw. “You didn’t have to do that…” Elliott just pointed urgently at the door, where the glove was leaving Timmy to recover as it went to unlock the door for its comrades. Daisy took a deep breath and summoned a blue orb that struck the glove as it reached for the doorknob, freezing it into a chunk of ice. Elliott was there in an instant to catch the frozen glove before it could fall on Timmy’s head. The two Believers recomposed themselves and Timmy stood up. He pressed his ear to the door to hear departing footsteps, and he glanced at his window warily; he knew the lock on it was broken.

“We don’t have much time.” He said softly, grabbing the phone and dialing Ray’s cell phone number.

The twins’ house was actually a ways around the block, and in it, four children were holed up in the attic, pushing a heavy trunk over the hatch to keep the horde of Minion Gloves on the lower floor. Ray just barely managed to grab his phone on the last ring as they finished blocking the door.

“H-Hello?” He asked, panting and in partial disbelief that he was being called so late, especially by Timmy. “Dude, what do you want?!”

“There are Minion Gloves swarming all over the place!” Timmy exclaimed on the other end. “Elliott and I can’t get out of my room.”

“You’re kidding!” Ray shouted back. “Riley and I have Laura and J-C here. J-C snuck out of his house and came over; he said something about suspicious sounds in the basement. Laura’s house was totally invaded. She climbed out her window and through Fen C. in order to get here. Now the gloves from Laura’s place and J-C’s are trying to get us!” Fen C. was actually a large tree that grew between the twins’ and Laura’s houses; other than the park and Travis’s tree-house, it was the kids’ favorite place to gather. It got its name because of the fact that when the twins’ and Laura’s dads were building the fence between the houses, they left the tree untouched and built around it; the tree was practically grown for climbing on, but the higher branches were narrow and treacherous. Ginseng reached up and pulled Ray’s sleeve with her claws so she could talk into the phone.

“Just try to hold your ground! We’ll figure this o--” she was interrupted by the sound of glass shattering.

“You told me things can’t move when they’re frozen!” Elliott shouted. Daisy shrieked. A clatter started up, and Timmy’s voice sounded far from the phone.

“Hurry, guys! They got Randy and Keith! Call whoever’s left!” Timmy’s voice was suddenly muffled, and another voice came to the phone:

“Consider that his final wish…” The receiver was placed back on the hook, ending the connection. Ray snarled and grit his teeth, dialing as quick as he could.

“R-Ray…” Riley said nervously, she, Laura, and J-C backing away from the hatch, which even with the trunk on top of it, was starting to open…

The phone in Monica’s house was ringing, but she wasn’t even there to hear it. She was in the park after suffering a pang of insomnia. Corazon was on her head as always. She sat on the large slide, staring into the night sky, until the cell phone in her pocket rang. She pulled it out and flipped it open in a fluid motion, but before she thought to say anything, she could hear shrieks and laughter from the other end.

“M-Monica!” Ray shouted, she could hear him laughing. “F-Find Britney and Travis!” All she heard after that was laughter, so she closed the phone and looked around. She felt Corazon tense and glanced toward the street. Sure enough, she saw Zachary and a swarm of Minion Gloves approaching the park, the young Hexalian on a roaring motorcycle. Monica pulled on her roller skates, and in an instance of panic and daring, jumped to her feet on the slide, rolling down and using the momentum to skate along the rough ground through the tree line onto what the kids knew as the Forest Highway. Anyone taller than about six feet would have a very hard time getting through the broken park fence without any scratches, not to mention the makeshift entrance--built by the kids--to the forest. It led into the patch of trees that connected all the backyards on the block. Monica knew that it would be a hot day in Santa’s house before Zachary could get that motorcycle through the Highway Entrance, but it was no excuse to slow down. She knew Britney and Travis needed her, but her house had 10 other people in it, and her instincts told her that family came first. She stopped and leaned against a tree, sending a very quick text to Britney; more so, as quick as she could with her little experience in texting. She was about to call Travis, knowing he didn’t have a cell phone, but she heard a rustling in the trees; she’d forgotten about those Minion Gloves. She pushed off the tree as hard as she could to gain some speed on the undesirable skating ground. She was coming up on grass now, which she knew was impossible to skate on. She looked back and sighed, stopping and removing her skates, tossing them over her shoulder and carrying them by the laces. Corazon crawled off her head, nuzzling safely into one of the skates. Monica eventually came to her own backyard, now stopping to dial Travis’s phone. A prerecorded voice apologized and said the line was disconnected.

“Peter…” Monica snarled under her breath. “Of all times…” She shook her head, going into her house. All seemed quiet.

“Welcome home, kid.” A voice laughed evilly as four gloves snatched her off the floor and dragged her up to her room, pinning her roughly to the floor while Zachary watched from his seat on her bed, one strong hand gripping Kix in a chokehold. Her eyes welled with tears of fear and defeat, which were quickly changed to tears of laughter.

Britney was crying. She and David were in their basement, the Minion Gloves threatening to break through the locked hatch. David had seen the text on Britney’s phone and brought her and Valentine down here, but now there was no escape and the Gloves were breaking through. Britney was crying into his shoulder, scared and defeated, and Valentine was the same. David pat her back to gain her attention; when she looked up, he smiled reassuringly as a loud crash signified their time was up.


	26. Chapter 25

I jolted from my sleep for what seemed like no reason. I checked my clock; It was a quarter to one in the morning. I rubbed my face; why was I awake at this time of night?

“So you heard it too?” Maize asked me, from her seat on my leg. Then I realized it was Maize who asked.

“Maize, your voice is back!” I said happily, but she raised a paw to hush me.

“I guess you didn’t hear it.” She whispered now. Her ears were wiggling a bit. I looked around.

“Hear what exactly?” I whispered as well.

“Do you know who lives across the street from you?”

“The twins. Haven’t you noticed that?”

“Hmm…” Maize jumped off my bed and sniffed around the floor in my room.

“Hey, do you know your phone’s unplugged?” she called to me from behind my nightstand.

“No, I didn’t know. My brother must have unplugged it, that punk… He probably thought it was my clock.” Maize sniffed around the doorframe, then darted back onto my bed.

“Someone’s in the house.” She said. “I think it’s Trevor.”

“W-Well, what do I do?!”

“I honestly don’t know. I didn’t think he’d show up in person.” I got to thinking; then I realized the simple solution: just do what all kids did when they were scared at night.

“Mom!!” I shouted, sounding scared. Maize’s ear twitched and she looked at the floor. I kept calling her, and a minute later, my mom opened my bedroom door.

“What’s up, Firebug?” she asked, sitting at the foot of my bed. “You okay?”

“I heard sounds downstairs…” As if on cue, there was a sound from the kitchen. It sounded like silverware hitting the floor. My mom tensed and took my hand.

“Stay here.” She told me, running a hand through my hair. She left the room, closing the door. Maize had the same idea as me and jumped off my bed, pressing her ear to my door.

“Your mom just went down the stairs. Let’s go, kid.” I got up as well, putting on my slippers. Not because I particularly wanted to, but this specific pair seemed to make my footsteps totally silent, even on that one stair that always creaks. Maize and I snuck silently into the hall, ghosting in the shadows down the stairs. We couldn’t see the kitchen, but Trevor’s smug voice was easy to hear.

“Now, Jeannine, I can tell how much you want to protect your precious boy, but if you knew my position, I’m sure you’d see it my way.” He laughed, advancing on my mom as she backed out of the kitchen, never breaking eye contact with him. He drew some kind of gun from his pocket as he stepped around her, sitting on the chair in the living room.

“Get out of our house, you monster!” my mother shouted, only to be silenced by the quiet snap of Trevor’s weapon. I saw my mom fall, and I lost control. I didn’t need my believer form, my claws appeared on their own.

“Travis, no!” I heard Maize call as I rushed at Trevor, ready to tear his throat out. The Hexalian smirked and turned a dial on his weapon, now firing it at me. Something like electricity ran through my body, and I collapsed, unable to move. Trevor stood over me, chuckling.

“I bet you think I killed poor Jeannine, don’t you?” He sneered, kneeling beside me. He lightly prodded her side, and she twitched, her breath hitching slightly. I admit I was relieved that my mother was okay; for a second, I forgot that I was basically trapped. Trevor snapped his fingers, a group of Minion Gloves lifting up my mother and carrying her back upstairs. Trevor picked me up himself, carrying my limp body as if I was a toddler.

“Y’know, kid.” He said as he carried me upstairs; he ordered a glove to catch Maize before she could attack him. “I honestly didn’t think I’d meet anyone fool enough to fall for the tranquilized bait trick. I guess I can let it slide since you’re a kid, but honestly, it’s the oldest trick in the book.” He chuckled, and I rolled my eyes, sighing.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that.” He chuckled, squeezing my side. I choked back a laugh, but I couldn’t move. He walked into my room, tossing my body onto my bed as I realized I could move again. I glared at him, my hand going to my left wrist. He and his gloves had none of it though. The Minion Gloves forced my hands behind my back while Trevor tickled my ribs. I laughed and struggled, trying to curl up. He smirked, obviously amused by all this. When he stopped and stood up, I snarled at him. He just smirked again, pulling a computer from a bag I didn’t notice he’d been carrying. As he began typing on it, I struggled to move my hands; then I realized he was watching me with that look that read: “I’m pretending to pity you, kid.”, I huffed and sat still, glaring flaming daggers at him.

“You know, pouting is gonna get you nowhere in a hurry, Travvy.” He teased, poking my ribs. I officially hate that nickname. I struggled a bit more, and he pressed his hand to my shoulder, pinning me down.

“Wow, Melanie was right, you are hard of hearing aren’t you?” he pulled a black feather from his pocket, one of his Minion Gloves taking it from him. “While we fix that, I want you to see something.” I wondered what he meant by fix until I felt the feather tracing the inside of my ear; I flinched and glared at Trevor again while he brought up a program on his laptop.

“Did you know that I had cameras put in a few of my gloves?” He smirked, pushing the laptop toward me as I tried to keep a straight face with the feather in my ear.

“How would I know that?” I asked curiously. He just chuckled and motioned to the computer. The screen was broken into five sections, each showing some of my friends cornered and at the mercy of swarms of Minion Gloves. The computer was muted, but I could see them all laughing in helpless hysteria. I was at a loss of words, to say the least.

“Impressed, kid?” Trevor sneered, drawing my attention. “This is a very special trick called a Wide-Range Frenzy. It’s very powerful, and I spent all afternoon learning this spell and teaching it to the others just for you runts. I can tell your friends are enjoying it.” He smirked and laughed, making a motion with one hand; his gloves lifted me up and dropped me on my bed again, my wrists now pinned behind my head. The gloves levitated ominously around me as Trevor pulled my slippers off, dragging his fingers along the bottom of my socked feet. He stood and sneered, looking at me as if examining an art piece.

“Yep,” he nodded, smirking. “I think this’ll be how I’ll remember the night we disposed of the Believer kids. Enough stalling. Let’s see if we can’t make you smile.” He sneered and snapped his fingers; in a second, the Minion Gloves were swarming, fast, tickling, disembodied fingers torturing my skin through my clothes. I laughed almost immediately, struggling helplessly. Trevor smiled and turned up the volume on his computer before he left my room, shutting the door. I was left to listen to my own and my friends’ tortured laughter, and it practically multiplied my own suffering. It wasn’t long before my lungs felt like they were on fire and my throat wasn’t cooperating with me; my eyes burned with tears as I struggled to breathe. Not all of them were tears of laughter, though; most of them were from the fact that Trevor’s computer had gone silent a few minutes ago. My brain was shorting out, and in my last functioning seconds, I apologized to everyone I knew for letting them down. I choked on my own breath, and everything went black…

In the darkness of this--I think Timmy would call it limbo or something like that-- I realized I could actually see a figure in the distance; turning my head created a combination of pain and weird irritation on my neck, but I realized I could see a group of figures in almost a circle, with me as a completing point. I stared at them as they started moving, looking around and trying to move their legs; I realized I couldn’t move mine either. I felt something of a breeze, and a smell like burning buckeye hit my nose. And the others stared around curiously, just as confused. That’s when the voice began:

“May my voice carry on the air as it moves, to those whose power is for good always used.” The voice sounded almost exactly like Jasper, and as it spoke, I realized I was moving. The circle made by me and the figures was closing; we couldn’t move our legs, so we weren’t walking.

“In this world, a wrong is now met; lives are now hanging, the balance unset. We struggle for strength, the prophecy looms; some lives are created while others meet their doom.” The circle was just about closed now, my shoulder just an inch from the unknown figure beside me. The black void was suddenly lit by strange glowing symbols that seemed to float in the darkness. I noticed that the symbols began to repeat after a certain one. I could hear a strange murmuring in an even stranger language as the voice paused. I realized that my hand was in the middle of the circle, and I couldn’t move it; I also realized that my skin was pitch black --like the void itself had been-- but with a weird glowing outline, like the figures around me had. They all stacked a hand on top of mine, and the voice continued.

“We believe in your power, and almighty intelligence; gift them this chance, lend your strength so they may fight against. I beg for this favor, as I plead and pray to thee. Lend them your power; these spirits are worthy!” The symbols around us began spinning at a blinding speed, glowing brighter. As the light washed over us, the shadowlike blackness covering my and the figures’ bodies seemed to be rinsed away, revealing each of my friends, our hands still stacked between us. We were all in our Believer forms, staring at each other in disbelief. Looking up, we saw that more symbols were floating over our heads, they were different for each of us, and they weren’t like the ones circling around us. We all held out our hands as each of our symbols floated in front of us, they flashed with dazzling light, filling my vision with blinding light before everything went dark.


	27. Chapter 26

The air rushed into my lungs like a dam had burst, and I found myself choking on my own breath, coughing roughly as I sat up. I rubbed my eyes, my sight crawling back into focus.

“Oh…” I whined raggedly, my head falling back onto my pillow. “I almost want to be dead…”

“T-Travis?” I heard Maize call. She looked up at me from the foot of my bed; when I smiled lazily at her, she jumped on my chest like she always does, purring and nuzzling her head against my chin.

“I suppose I’ll have to get used to you jumping on my ribcage, won’t I?” I sighed, picking her up and pressing my forehead to hers. She purred, wiggling out of my hands and sitting beside me.

“This is just perfect.” She said happily, her forepaws resting on my knee as I sat up again. “If you survived then the others must have as well.”

“How can you be so sure?” I asked curiously, my voice no longer hoarse and painful.

“One of the most well-known Believer Proverbs is ‘They fall together or never at all.’ It means that you guys can overcome anything as long as you remember that you’re a team. Something like that, at least. I’d explain it if we had more time.”

“Time?!” I shouted, grabbing my clock. It was 7:40; My friends and I would be on the way to school by now. “I-I have to get ready!” I was about to haphazardly throw my clock back on the nightstand and run out of the room when I noticed my hands. My skin was orange and striped again--I was in my Believer form-- but this time, I had a red symbol on the backs of my hands; it was a lot different from my Believer mark and it glowed if I moved my fingers or my hand enough.

“Maize, what does this one mean?” I asked, showing her the mark. Her eyes widened and sparkled with awe.

“It means ‘Fire Mage’. It’s like a wizard.” She put one paw on the mark, and it glowed again. “Your powers are still a bit unstable, but those Energy-Release points should help you gain control of them.”

“Speaking of control…” a familiar voice called. I spun around to see J-C outside my window in his Believer form, and he was flying! The others were down in the yard, waving up to me. Maize’s family waved a paw each to make themselves known.

“Dude, you can fly?!” I asked in amazement. He just chuckled, his bright blue feathered wings moving in a smooth pattern.

“Not for long.” He smirked. “If someone sees me, we’re all going to the autopsy table. Get ready Tiger, we’ve got work to do today.” He started slowly lowering to the ground.

“Wait a sec!” I called, quickly running to my closet as he reappeared at my window. I dragged a suitcase from my closet.

“Do you think you can take this out there for me? If my parents see it, they’ll get suspicious.” J-C smiled and agreed with fake reluctance. Riley flew up beside him and helped him lower it down to the front yard. I went to change out of my Believer form, but the black mark wasn’t there. I admit I should have been more concerned, but I was in a hurry. I grabbed a loose jacket, putting it on so it covered my tail. The white legs of my Believer jumpsuit made me a bit confused. I knew if I covered them, I’d probably be kind of warm, since it wasn’t quite winter yet. In the end, I thought, “skip it.”; I grabbed my backpack and put my on baseball cap to cover my ears. I put my socks on as I made my way down the stairs with Maize now in my jacket pocket. I stuffed my sneakers in my backpack before picking up my skates and going into the kitchen, where my dad set two pieces of toast in front of me.

“You’re a little late, aren’t you, Firebug?” he asked. “That’s not like you; you alright?”

“I’m okay, Dad.” I said as I strapped on my skates and tested the wheels. “Where’s Mom?”

“She said she had a bad headache. I let her get some extra sleep. More importantly though, you’re late. Get on the road, kid.” I nodded as he handed me a piece of paper towel to wrap up my toast and waved to me as I left.

“All right, boys and girls!” I called “Who wants my extra piece of toast?” The others laughed and I helped J-C toss that suitcase into my red wagon. We started toward school, rolling as fast as we could on our skates and with me pulling my wagon.

“What time is it?!” I shouted through the toast in my mouth.

“Time to stop talking with your mouth full!” Monica laughed beside me, looking at her watch. “It’s 7:52!” I nodded, then looked back.

“Where’s Britney?!” I called.

“She said she’d scout ahead at the school, and Ray went with her! We forgot to tell you!” Keith called to me. I thought about that, hoping they were alright. As we skidded to a stop in front of the school, we saw Britney’s three dogs huddled up to the fence nearby, trying to stay in the shadow of the building. I nodded to myself, catching my breath.

“Time?” I called, opening the door so we could go inside.

“7:57.” Monica sighed.

“Good job everyone.” We sat down for a minute and traded our skates for our sneakers and let Keith go to his class.

“Next time you should pace yourselves.” Maize advised as we hauled my red wagon up the stairs and to our classroom. “That ride must have been tiring.” We all nodded as we walked into the classroom Jasper greeted us first, along with Ray and Britney.

“Where’s Melanie?” I asked.

“She stepped out a minute ago. She said she’d be back.” Jasper nodded. “We probably want to hide the wagon, yes?” He took the handle from my hands and moved the wagon to a somewhat hidden corner of the classroom; it meant turning the wagon on its side, so he had to hide the suitcase in one of the coat closets. As he finished, the morning bell rang, and everyone rushed to their seats as Melanie walked back into the room, carrying a bottle of water.

“You guys think you’re so slick, don’t you?” she teased, smiling. “Some of you look guilty…” My eyes drifted toward Monica, who held loosely onto the brim of her hat, which had a gray tail dangling down Monica’s neck and occasionally brushing against her skin. She fought back a laugh as it brushed the crook of her neck. Melanie snickered audibly, then turned to the chalkboard, writing out a few words.

“Okay guys, get out your notebooks and write down at least 3 synonyms for each of these words and one antonym for each.” She instructed. “If you’ve forgotten what synonyms and antonyms are, I’ll be walking around, so you flag me down if you need me.” As the class started working, I kept one eye on the clock. I could hear Maize shifting in my desk, and I admit it distracted me, until I felt a presence over my shoulder. Melanie’s hand was on the bill of my cap, which I had turned backward so I could see the clock from my desk. She chuckled darkly and leaned close to me, my tiger ears twitching under my cap.

“If I didn’t know what this was here for, I would have made you take it off earlier.” I could hear the smirk in her voice; her other hand tapped a gloved finger my worksheet near a word I’d written. “It’s ‘I before E unless they’re after C’, okay?” she gently pat my shoulder as she walked away. I smiled as I fixed my spelling error; I’ve said Melanie is good with kids, but there’s something more to her. I couldn’t place it myself, but it was there.

After that writing exercise, Melanie went into a lesson about grammar. Guess what: I got bored fast. I stared at the clock pretty much through her whole lesson. It was nearly nine o'clock; maybe Trevor was planning an afternoon strike. I chewed my lip as the possibilities tortured my mind. That is… until Jasper’s fingers scratched at my side. My claws dug into the desk as I bit back whatever sound threatened to escape me.

“Dude, I can hear your heart rate from here.” He whispered as I glared at him.

“I wonder why…” I snarled, forcing a smile.

“I meant before. While you were getting lost in that clock. You’re too tense. Just relax and breathe, okay?”

“How can you be relaxed?!” I snapped as quietly as I could. “You know what’s going to--” The clock struck nine and the lights went out. A loud buzz came from the hall; having attended the last two school Lock-Ins, I knew that buzz was the electric lock on all the doors leading outside.


	28. Chapter 27

“And so it begins.” Jasper whispered as most of the class went into a frantic murmuring.

“M-Melanie?” Carly Myer raised her hand, “Is this some kind of lockdown drill?” Melanie just chuckled darkly, pulling her gloved hands from her pockets; they were stark white with a single black star on the back. She strode over to the door, shutting and locking it.

“It’s a lockdown, my friends;” she spoke as she turned to face the class; kids began panicking as her eyes glowed red. “But it’s far from a drill.” She snapped her fingers, a few dozen Minion Gloves appearing behind her. A lot of the students were out of their seats, backing away. Jasper leaned back in his chair and sighed, looking into my eyes.

“Don’t you dare move, Believer.” He snarled; He kicked my shoe, chuckling. “And have some faith in yourself. Get rid of those.” I was actually afraid to take my shoes off, considering the amount of Minion Gloves in the room, but I set my cap and jacket on my desk, stretching. My friends stood up and stood around me and Jasper.

“What are you two doing?” Randy asked. I pointed to Jasper wordlessly. He smirked.

“See how the others have run away at the first sight of her change?” he said, loud enough that the room would hear. “They’re weak. But you guys; you Believers can’t afford to be weak in situations like this.”

“Who are you calling weak Wilson?!” Matthew barked from the back of the room.

“Why don’t you come over here and find out, Matt?” Jasper smirked, and the room’s attention was now on the class bully. He growled and took a couple steps forward; the Minion Gloves rushed at him, and he and the other students shrieked as they cowered again. Jasper laughed, looking around.

“You see, Believers:” he told us. “Hexalians have respect for those who don’t show fear. You can be as afraid as you see fit, but if it shows in your actions, they will be much harsher.”

“How much harsher?” Elliott asked, swallowing the fear in his voice. Jasper chuckled, looking up at him as if Melanie wasn’t a factor.

“Hexalians are known to mentally break targets that appear weak.”--he stood from his chair, his eyes locked with Matthew’s-- “The prey gets singled out, and stalked at a maddening repetition. Hexalians don’t make it a secret when they stalk someone.” --He stepped ominously toward him, making Matthew back away until he was pinned to the wall.-- “And once the prey is trapped and mentally destabilized…”--He threw a punch, hitting the corkboard right behind Matthew, a hair’s breadth from the class bully’s ear. Matthew sunk down against the wall, shivering visibly. The students were stunned, to say the least.

“For Gods’ sakes, Matt.” Jasper smirked as he walked back over to us. “Have some self-respect.” His eyes were on Melanie now, who hadn’t made a move against us the whole time.

“I suppose you expect me to compliment you, Jasper?” Melanie smirked. Jasper chuckled.

“Nah, I’m not so superficial.” He said calmly, his hands behind his back. He was signing words to us while talking to Melanie. Jasper had once given us a crash course on Sign Language about a year ago, and Timmy’s and Monica’s photographic memories are the only ones who retained the entire lesson. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Monica take her hat off and ruffle her hair, scratching her head. Corazon jumped out of her hat just before she put it back on. It wasn’t until I heard the students in the back shrieking that I realized they’d been so silent. Melanie blinked as she saw all the students scattering around the room, the Minion Gloves swarming to attack the panicking kids.

“It’s a rat; a rat!” one of the girls shrieked, pointing at Corazon as she darted to avoid the student’s feet.

“The correct term is chinchilla.” Monica muttered softly. Melanie made motions with her hands, her gloves moving to meet her commands. She didn’t notice Jasper pull a small gun from his desk, the barrel of which sparked with electricity.

“W-What are you…” I stuttered nervously. He shushed me as he approached a very distracted Melanie and put the gun to her shoulder. She shuddered and flinched, then fainted, her Minion Gloves swarming around her to keep her from hitting the floor. They set her on the floor before all of them vanished.

“She should be out for about an hour.” Jasper sighed, opening his desk and pulling out a belt with two holsters. He slipped the gun into the empty holster before closing his desk, jumping onto it, and tightening the belt across his shoulder like a sash.

“Alright, children.” He called. “I need you all to gather your things in a way that leaves your hands free. It makes it easier to climb stairs when you can hold the rail, and a lot easier to run when you can move your arms.”

“Wait a minute;” Matthew piped up. “Why exactly are we listening to you Wilson?!” Jasper choked out a laugh, looking at Matthew like a psychopath. The students around Matthew jumped back as Jasper tackled the bully to the floor, pulling a hunting knife from the second holster on the belt. He was pinning Matthew’s arms and hands with his knees and feet, the bully’s head with one hand and he hovered the knife near his frightened face.

“This is why.” He said simply, sheathing the knife before standing up. He reached into his desk and pulled out a pair of handcuffs, walking over to Melanie and cuffing her hands behind her. He removed her gloves and tossed them into his desk, taking out a long length of rope and a small box, which he attached to the holster he wore. He glanced around the room at the class; the students were staring at him. He smiled at me and my friends, kicking my foot again.

“Get ready, gang.” He chuckled as I finally kicked my sneakers off. “We’re cutting class.”

While the students were gathering their things, Jasper had told Britney to scavenge around for things she could pick locks with, J-C and Randy stood by the door as lookouts, the other Believers were hustling everyone along, and I was showing Jasper and Six-Star the contents of the suitcase I’d brought.

“Okay, so these are emergency essentials… as determined by my grandmother.” I said a bit sheepishly, and Jasper chuckled.

“This is gonna be great.” He smiled. “Alright, let’s see it.” I opened the suitcase and pointed to things as I listed them.

“This is a first aid kit. Probably the biggest one I’ve ever seen; it takes up a third of this suitcase. I have this rope here; last time I asked, I think Grandma said it’s twenty full feet--”

“Twenty ‘full feet’?” Jasper giggled. “As opposed to what, exactly? Half feet, quarter feet? Human feet?” His fingers grazed over my foot at that last statement, and I threatened to punch him as I held back a laugh.

“Jasper, stop playing.” Maize scolded, putting her paws on the suitcase. “You know we don’t have that kind of time. Travis, go on.”

“Thank you.” I sighed, glaring at Jasper as he pulled that “innocent kid” look. “Anyway, these cartridges are little smoke bombs. The smoke will rise up to about fifteen feet high if given enough space, and takes a while to dissipate. I have about ten of those. There are also three distress flares in here, a pair of scissors, and Grandma said she’d give me her hunting knife when I’m old enough.--” Jasper snickered, and I shoved him. “Shut up… Why do you have that knife, anyway?”

“It’s my father’s; he gave it to me when I was young and said: ‘As long as your heart and mind are set in the right place, this blade will cut through whatever you wish.’” He smiled at me. “When you get yours, I’ll teach you how to use it. You got anything in that case by ways of flashlights? We kinda need some.”

“Oh yeah,” I realized. “I have these three flashlights here--”

“Three?”

“Yes. This one, the backup, and the extra backup.” Jasper pat my shoulder.

“Your grandmother is probably the best survivalist I’ve known.” He smirked, pulling out one of the flashlights and leaving me to shut the suitcase.

“Alright, gang!” he shouted, jumping onto his desk. “Everybody ready? We’re taking on the halls!” The class seemed nervous, but Jasper stood by the door with me and my friends. Eventually, they stepped toward us.

“Wait!” Monica shouted as Jasper opened the door. “Corazon!” the chinchilla weaved through the students’ legs and jumped up onto Monica’s left shoulder since Kix was occupying her right. Some of the girls shrieked until Jasper shushed them.

“Our first move is to go downstairs to the kindergarten and first through third grade rooms.” He said quietly when the room was silent. “Who here has little siblings?” A few students, including Randy raised their hands. Jasper nodded.

“Then let’s make haste. We’re picking up Keith first; we’re gonna need all the Believers if we’re gonna get out of here. Everyone stay together, find a buddy, and if you get lost, look for our flashlight. Remember, we have a white light.” Jasper finally opened the door and allowed everyone to leave; he pulled a yellow bandana from his pocket and tied it around his head.

“Time for a new spin on a cattle drive.” He whispered smugly in my ear, leading our class to the stairwell and cautiously down the steps. The sounds of the little kids shrieking laughter seemed to mask our footsteps.

“Let’s hustle, gang.” Jasper called softly. “But quietly; if they hear us, we’re dead.” We picked up the pace, and as we turned into the first grade and kindergarten hall, a group of small kids rushed around a corner screaming. Jasper put a hand to his forehead as our class went on edge.

“Keith!” Randy called, his little brother and his class charging down the hall at us. “How did you get out?”

“It’s not exactly hard to open a door from the inside.” Keith panted, talking quickly; his class was whining and trying to push him past us. “It’s a school, not a prison.”

“Like there’s a difference…” Someone murmured. Keith looked back nervously.

“L-Look, we have to go now.” The young boy ran past us, the kids following.

“Wait,” Jasper said, grabbing Keith by his tail. “What exactly did you do with the Hexalian guarding you guys?”

“We’re not running from the tooth fairy!” Keith shouted, pointing up the hall as a group of Minions charged at us. Jasper sighed.

“Get the kids back to our classroom and shut them up. Lock the door.” He ordered.

“What about you? And Melanie’s still in there!” I said, gripping his arm.

“Fine, take them somewhere else! But get them quiet; the other Hexalians don’t seem alerted yet. As for me…” He pulled his gun from the holster and sneered. “I’m going hunting.” He shoved the flashlight into my hands and took off running. The Minions seemed more interested in the mass of us than one running kid… until that kid was shooting them in the back of the head. They spun and shrieked at him, chasing him down the hall.

We hadn’t moved an inch since Jasper left, and when he came back, he hit me over the head.

“I told you guys to move and you’re standing here like cattle.” He growled, taking the flashlight back.

“Where would we have gone?” I asked. He stared at me, thinking; he frowned, motioning us to follow him as he stepped toward the nearest classroom. It was a first grade room. He tried the doorknob, nodding.

“Of course it’s locked.” He chuckled. “Looks like you’re up, Britney. Work your magic.”

“What’s she gonna do, huh?” Matthew snorted as Britney pulled a paper clip from her pocket. Jasper glared at him, his fist tightening over the coil of rope on his shoulder. Britney picked the lock and the door opened in less than a minute. Jasper went inside, drawing his gun and pulling the door shut. There was screaming and a loud crash before Jasper came back.

“Travis, I’m gonna need you and J-C to go get your red wagon from the classroom.” He said somewhat dismally. “Two kids are unconscious and a Minion knocked a desk onto a girl’s leg.” I nodded, reaching into the suitcase to take out a second flashlight. J-C followed me as I snuck back up the stairs and into our classroom. The difference I noticed first scared me the most: Melanie was gone. We took that as very reasonable incentive to get the wagon fast and go.

We were back to the students as fast as we could be while being quiet. Jasper set the two unconscious children in the wagon while J-C carried the injured girl on his back,

“Okay, we have injured kids.” Jasper said to us. We’re going to the bunker to regroup. Quickly, I mean.” He started hustling us to a door I’d only seen this week. He used a strangely shaped key to unlock it and took one last look around before hitting a switch on the wall. A small light came on over what appeared to be a slide.

“Weren’t there stairs here yesterday?” Randy asked.

“Maybe…” Jasper giggled. “Kids, single file; hurry up, move with a purpose.” The students went down the slide, the crowd soon disappearing.

“Should we go down there too?” Randy asked.

“Maybe after we get all the little kids safe.” We nodded and followed him through the halls. We eventually reached a pattern: Britney would unlock the door, Jasper would incapacitate the Hexalian guarding the class, and we’d herd out the students. We’d occasionally come across an unconscious kid and one who got hurt, but all the kids would walk again, so we didn’t mind having to carry some of them. Every four classrooms, we’d take the students we had back to that slide. I asked Jasper why we were sending the injured kids down the slide without any supervision, but as usual he “had everything under control”.

“Oh wait.” He said quickly, laying my suitcase on the floor. He opened it and removed the first aid kit, pushing it down the slide. “Now we can go. C’mon. We’re taking on the second floor.” He shut the door to the secret slide and led us upstairs. We had to be a lot more cautious here because of the main office. If Trevor was in there, he could come out and see us; if he wasn’t, he was patrolling the halls and would probably ambush us on sight.

We were leading the last three second floor classrooms to the stairs when an ominous laughter filled the entire hall. Most of the students shivered and tried to keep their composure. A few very familiar stark white gloves drifted almost lazily around us.

“I must say, I’m impressed with you kids.” Trevor’s voice chuckled, sounding like it was coming through the walls and surrounding us. “It takes guts to blatantly defy me right in front of my face!” I heard the students screaming and spun around to see Trevor standing over me and Jasper, smirking. He grabbed Jasper by his shirt collar, holding him off the floor and staring into my eyes.

“Jasper has gotten you pretty far today, hasn’t he?” the Hexalian smirked, his free hand glowing as he traced one finger along Jasper’s face. “Let’s see how you fare when he’s the one you’re against.” He dropped Jasper and stepped back, sneering. Jasper turned and stared at me, his eyes glowing a similar shade of red to Trevor’s. He smirked and drew his gun, firing what looked like orbs of light at me. I wasn’t sure what I was doing, but I kept dodging. I knew I could never bring myself to hurt Jasper, and neither could the others. And Trevor seemed just fine with watching me jump around like a fool, so I was left to do so; the other kids were too scared to move.

I don’t know how long I kept that up, but I knew I was getting tired. Just as I was about to give up, I saw a blur pass through the light of Jasper’s flashlight. Jasper suddenly stopped shooting at me and collapsed on the floor.

“What the--?!” Trevor snarled, only to be silenced by a sharp sound of metal striking the back of his head. He collapsed as well, Susan standing over him holding Monica’s staff.

“H-Hey!” Monica shouted, just realizing that the staff wasn’t on her back anymore. “How’d you get that?”

“Practice, my students.” Susan smiled, handing Monica her staff and picking up Jasper and his gun as Trevor began to regain consciousness. “Now, everybody run!” Susan led us all back down to the secret slide and used Jasper’s key to unlock it, hustling us all down the dark slide as Trevor advanced on us.

“Go, go!” she shouted, nudging me down the slide behind my friends. She followed, pulling on a rope that slammed and locked the door behind us. The slide was pitch black and fairly fast; I held my flashlight tightly, my tail coiled just as tight around the handle of the suitcase, which was sliding along in front of me. I pointed my flashlight ahead, and Valentine looked back at me from Britney’s shoulder. As we reached the end of the slide, Britney stood up and helped me move my suitcase off the slide before Susan and Jasper came down.

“Remind me what this room is, please.” Randy called out, lifting Keith onto a table. Susan walked over and lay Jasper on the table next to Keith.

“It’s a storm bunker.” She answered. “It can hold everybody in the building plus maybe a couple dozen.”

“What did Trevor do to Jasper?” Britney asked, letting Ray remove her backpack and place it in the far corner with the huge pile of students’ belongings.

“Trevor used what’s called a One-Use Hypnosis spell on Jasper. It’s a very powerful hypnosis that Trevor shouldn’t even be able to use. He’s been getting stronger ever since this strike started… And it’s nearly one o'clock.”

“One o'clock?!” I shouted. “I thought it was, like, 11! Maybe even noon…” I sat on the floor, my head in my hands. “We have about two hours until dismissal, and it’s not club week. If we aren’t home by 3:15 today, our parents will freak.”

“Then, we better see what Jasper’s got.” Susan suggested, pouring water from a water bottle into her hand after removing a purple glove and splashing Jasper’s face. He woke up immediately, coughing and flailing.

“What happened?!” he shouted as Susan handed him a small towel and put her glove back on.

“A One-Use Hypnosis spell Trevor somehow got ahold of.” She told him. His eyes widened.

“That means he’s using the Re-router Spell…” Jasper buried his face into the towel, snarling. “This is so bad…”

“Well, what’s the Re-Router Spell?” Timmy asked, sitting on the table beside Jasper.

“The Re-Router Spell is used by Hexalians who are running big, organized attacks like this. It’s used so that one or two Hexalians can gain power from the energy of the victims’ laughter. We haven’t been moving fast enough… He’s gotten so strong too fast.” --He picked up his gun-- “And he drained the battery in my stun gun making me shoot at you guys!” He pulled his knees up and buried his face in his hands again. Timmy put a hand on his shoulder.

“Jasper, don’t be like this, we still have five other grades to recover.” Elliott said calmly. “We can do this; you said so.” Jasper rubbed tears out of his eyes.

“Guys, these Hexalians get stronger every floor we go; plus, the third through seventh floors have all the art rooms, computer and science labs, the drama rooms, music rooms, and all that! All the substitutes from those rooms will be patrolling the halls like rent-a-cops. I can’t fight these guys without my stun gun, and we needed you guys to save your strength to fight Trevor. I’m sorry, but I’m starting to lose hope…” J-C hit our saddened friend over the head.

“Jasper! Pull yourself together!” he shouted. “Look, we’ve been through too much since this whole thing with Trevor started! We’re not giving up now! We can do this, kids; we just have to think.” Jasper groaned.

“Guys, I know I always say I have everything under control, but I--” I put my hand over Jasper’s mouth.

“I didn’t want it to come to this, but you’re just not being yourself.” I sneered. “Hold him down, and wait for my signal.”

“Wh-What?!” Jasper shouted, struggling as J-C and Randy grabbed his arms while Timmy and Elliott had his ankles. “Guys, no! This is not the time for this!”

“Oh, considering the circumstances, I honestly don’t think this is a bad time.” I smiled at Britney, who was standing beside me, slightly confused.

“What are you doing?” she asked. I pulled her close, smiling.

“Pay attention;” I smirked. “This is what happens when one of us gets all moody.”

“Travis, call them off!” Jasper shouted, but I shook my head and looked at my watch.

“We need to conserve time; see if you can break him in 30 seconds.” As soon as I finished, all four of Jasper’s human restraints stared tickling him, with the help of the five Believers who were standing beside him. Britney stifled a laugh beside me, and I just kept my eyes on my watch.

“5 seconds.” I reported as their time-limit came up.

“All right, all right!” Jasper shouted, struggling again. “You win, okay?!” I held up my hand and the others let him go.

“I actually think I have an idea.” Jasper panted, his usual smirk returning. “Susan, this means you and Six-Star are running my cattle drive now. And Britney, you have to go with her to get the locks.” Susan smiled, nodding. She and Six-Star ran off, with Britney following nervously; Jasper reached under the table and pulled out a box. When he opened it, he pulled out the Radiate Wand and the Red Text of Hexal.

“Let’s start studying, Believers…” he smiled as he opened the book.


	29. Chapter 28

“Everybody keep moving.” Susan reminded the high school-level students who trailed behind her and Britney. The Hexalians had been far harsher on the older students, and most of them were injured for trying to run or fight back. But they were very strong and knew they’d recover, most of the victims willing and able to walk off their pain. This was the last group of students to lead back, and then she and Janice could go searching for the school’s faculty. Meanwhile, the Believers would go about distracting Trevor and the Hexalians until everyone was ready to be evacuated. They could only hope the diversion would hold their attention long enough.

“So, you’re a Hexalian, Ms. Reynolds?” Britney asked, her hand on her brother’s arm and Mordecai lying on her shoulder. Susan looked at her and sighed.

“Yeah, I am.” She confessed. “But I’m not like this lot. I promise. I’ve been reformed for a good ten years.”

“Trevor really seems to like you, too.” David smiled.

“He likes torturing me; I know that much. I admit he has a weird, evil type of charm, but I don’t know if he’s my type.”

“You really know how to break a man’s heart, Spider Keeper.” The Redheaded Reynolds spun around to face the barrel of Trevor’s own stun gun. It was a larger model than Jasper’s, and definitely not meant to be wielded by a child as his was.

“Hello, Trevor…” Susan murmured almost humorously. He smirked and looked at Britney.

“Hello, shorty. You know you shouldn’t be on this floor without a hall pass.” Britney clung to David nervously, trying to hide now. Trevor looked at all the students.

“Wow, you all look messed up.” He chuckled, tapping his gun to the side of his head. “I’ll have to talk to those guys about restraining themselves. You’re still just kids. You may be a bit stronger, but you’re still kids. Weak…defenseless… Well, I’m sure you understand.” He laughed sinisterly, his Minion Gloves circling ominously around the group of students as he whispered a poem.

“‘A huddle of bunnies with fur of soft white, ebony tails, and eyes so bright.” He sang softly, his gloves floating around and over the students, as if trying to choose from them. “They hop into the grotto, eyes all alight, searching for shelter in dead of the night. But the panthers on the hill, fur of black and eyes of green; they stare down upon their prey, ears folded back, and a countenance so mean. They pounce into the field, and when the sun cast its halo; the huddle of bunnies was dead in the grotto.” The gloves stopped where they were and whoever was under them paid the price for being there.

“Leave them alone, Trevor.” Susan said nervously, reaching into her pocket as Trevor observed his handiwork. She pulled out the key to the storm shelter’s hallway entrance and slipped it into Britney’s hand.

“On my word, run, okay?” she whispered to the young Believer and her brother. “Take no prisoners… and any stragglers will be on my head.” David nodded, and Britney agreed after a few seconds. Susan plucked Valentine off the floor and set him on her shoulder, approaching Trevor as he began muttering the poem again, watching his gloves dance and shuffle over the heads of the students. He looked at her with an almost harmless smile, this time repeating the poem to add suspense.

“You’re a terrible poet.” Valentine snarled, spitting fireballs to vaporize all Trevor’s Minion Gloves.

“Run! Go now!” Susan shouted, gripping Trevor’s hands before he could snap his fingers or fire his stun gun. The students took off running while Susan squared off with Trevor, knocking the gun from his hands.

“You think you got this, Keeper?” Valentine asked, hopping off her shoulder.

“Just go, Valentine!” Susan yelled, Trevor pinning her to the wall. Valentine bit down on the barrel of the gun and dragged it off with him, leaving Susan to Trevor.

Trevor held Susan tightly to him, his arm across her throat as he leaned on the wall.

“You put up some kind of fight, lovey.” He teased as she tried to escape his hold. “But I know this funny little hold that can leave you right at my mercy. My coach said it works great on Hexalians. You want me to test it, love?” Susan snarled, wrenching about in Trevor’s arms. Trevor just chuckled, and spun around with her in the dark hall.

“I’m kidding, doll. I don’t want to pin you too much.” He dragged her through a crooked dance, kneading her hips with one hand to force a smile. “I find it amusing how you love to fight me. You know that you’re too ticklish to stand a chance against me.” To prove his point, he released her and paced around her in a taunting manner, trying to tease her into a strike. She just huffed and crossed her arms.

“Aw, she’s all huffy.” Trevor taunted from behind her, he leaned in close and blew into her ear, driving her straight into a fit of giggles. “I got a chance to learn that little spot about you when you spent the weekend at my place, lovey. I know another one, too.” He grabbed her, one arm about her waist, and the other across her ribcage, trapping her arms. He chuckled, then made a dramatic action of biting softly into the crook of her neck, starting an irritating nibbling and an occasional raspberry that had Susan on the verge of screaming in hysteric laughter. She focused just enough to do what’s called a Back Snap, which is a Hexalian martial arts move to be used in exactly this type of situation. If done perfectly, she could have snapped Trevor’s shin, but she wasn’t that cruel. It was enough to bring him to release her though, and she spun around, trying to take a defensive stance despite still being giggly from her weakest spot being exploited. Trevor couldn’t help laughing at her.

“Oh, my ticklish doll… If only you could see how cute you look trying to stand up to-- in Jasper’s own words, of course-- a tickle monster.” He made some goofy face, crossing his eyes and wiggling his fingers at her. She couldn’t stop the giggles, and just backed away as he advanced on her again. He laughed and grabbed her sides, tickling her hips with fast, precise prods with his fingertips and scratches with his nails. Even through his gloves, his technique drove her crazy, making her squeal and laugh all over again. Trevor chuckled, kneeling beside her as she panted. He checked his watch.

“You know, love.” He smirked, grabbing her wrists and holding them behind her. “We should get a move on. I know this desk in one of the science rooms that we can tie you down to.” She sighed as he dragged her up the hallway.

“Just focus your energy to the release points on your hands and feet; when the time feels right, you release it. Remember that your motions have an effect on what happens.” Travis did as Jasper instructed, tightening his focus; the Fire Mage characters on his hands and feet glowed faintly.

“Now, show me that Forward Jab I taught you.” Jasper nodded, watching. Travis planted his heels and punched the air in front of him. His marks glowed and a cloud of black smoke exploded from his hand, engulfing him from the waist up. He coughed and stepped out of the cloud, glaring at a laughing Jasper as he brushed soot off his jumpsuit.

“What happened?” the Believer asked. “I did what you said.”

“No. You didn’t.” Jasper giggled, standing and approaching Travis. “If you had, it would have worked. Hold still a minute.” As Travis stood still, Jasper rested a hand on his stomach, the other hand tracing along the arm Travis had just punched with; He pinched Travis’s wrist.

“There’s a block there.” He diagnosed. “The energy isn’t flowing right. Did you hit your hand on something today?”

“I fell on it while we were running from some Minions earlier.” Travis recalled.

“Yeah, that would do it. You messed up the energy flow. It’s like kinking a garden hose. Try the punch again with the other hand first.” He watched as Travis tried the punch again with his left hand, a burst of flame flowing from the release point on the back of his hand and quickly disappearing.

“See?” Jasper smiled. “That’s what happens when you do what I say. This time, I want you to focus about half of your energy into your hand. The more you put into each attack, the bigger the flame will be. Wait a sec.” Jasper took ahold of Travis’s right hand, then traced one finger from his elbow to the Fire Mage symbol on his palm. He looked Travis in the eye and nodded. Travis sighed as Jasper stepped out of his way, and he repeated the Forward Jab again with his right hand. He could feel the heat travelling through his arm as the energy left his hand in a plume of fire. He winced as the he cut off the energy flow.

“That one kind of hurt…” he told Jasper.

“How do you think garden hoses feel after you stop bending them?” Jasper snickered. “That sudden rush is from the energy path being clogged then suddenly cleared. Hey, come over here.” The boy pulled a small flashlight from his pocket and gripped Travis’s chin.

“Now, sing me a… G flat in that funny opera voice you do.” He snickered. Travis rolled his eyes.

“Did something happen to ‘say ah’?” he smirked. Jasper snickered and shined the flashlight into Travis’s mouth.

“You’ve got a release point at the back of your throat.” Jasper observed. “You also have something in your teeth.” He laughed as Travis shoved him. He then reached under the table and pulled out a box.

“Now, we set you up with your trump card.” He said dramatically, making Travis smile. He opened the box, revealing the Ruby Radiate Wand in its sparkling glory.

“How exactly do I use this again?” The young Believer asked.

“Well, there’s only one button as far as I can tell. But I did some research in the Hexal Text. This thing was once known as the Ruby Wand of Leadership. I couldn’t figure out exactly what it was used for or what effect it had, but I know that only a certain Believer can trigger it. I figure it’s you, since the wand always seems to react when you hold it.”

“How exactly is it a trump card if I don’t know how to use it?”

“You learn by experience and instinct.” --Jasper pulled a special holster from the box and slung it over Travis’s shoulder, slipping the Radiate Wand into the holster set on his back; unbeknownst to the Believer, the wand shimmered brightly-- “Do whatever comes to mind and maybe something extra. I know you can do it, kid. Oh yeah, and think fast!” Jasper grabbed Travis’s sides, digging his fingers into the boy’s ribs. The Believer yelped and coiled his tail around Jasper’s wrists, turning to glare at his friend before releasing his hands.

“Jasper!” a voice called from the slide. A fairly large group of high school children came tumbling out, but they all got up and made their ways over to Janice. The voice’s owner soon stepped out, her brother still beside her.

“What’s up, Britney?” Jasper asked calmly, Travis still standing beside him.

“Susan got taken by Trevor! We have to go get her!” the coyote Believer said in a panic.

“Be calm, milady.” Jasper smiled, handing her a hand mirror, “And check out that pretty mark on your forehead.” Britney looked at Travis, but he shrugged. She sighed and looked in the mirror, pushing aside her braids to reveal an Energy Release point on her forehead. Jasper nodded in approval, then pulled her and Travis over to where the other Believers were practicing their attacks; except for Timmy, who had his nose buried in the notebook Jasper had written in for him.

“All right, Believers; it’s time to rock and roll.” He smirked, standing on the table beside Timmy. He whistled loudly, gaining the room’s attention. “Girls and boys, I’m about to put a lot of trust on your shoulders. And as far as I know, most of you don’t deserve it! Now then, the Believers and I have to go out to work on taking down the guards; Janice is going to go look for the teachers and faculty. Meanwhile, Trevor should be distracted with Susan, and you kids will behave down here while the professionals work. Now, since I know I can’t trust half of you, I’ve asked RetroSpot to keep the doors locked and guarded while we’re gone. You kids be good!” He hopped off the table, pulling Timmy along with him over to a door. He and the Believers, along with Janice went through the door to find a ladder in a dark room.

“Ladies first.” Jasper smiled. Janice chuckled and went up the ladder, followed by the girls, except for Riley, who chose to fly up. J-C, Ray, and Timmy followed her example as Janice got to the top of the ladder and opened a hatch above it. The winged Believers flew up and landed on the stage, looking out into the empty auditorium. Janice climbed out after them and helped all the other Believers out onto the stage. Jasper jumped off the ladder, landing beside Janice, inhaling strongly through his nose.

“Ah, the smell of floor wax and brass polish… I love this room.” He mused. “Speaking of which, Ray and Riley, go grab your brass and meet us on the fifth floor entrance. Janice, you get to the basement and look for the faculty.” The twins looked at each other, but sighed and went to find their trumpets backstage. Jasper and the rest of the Believers ran up to the higher levels of the auditorium while Janice ran out of the first floor door.


	30. Chapter 29

We trekked through the dark 5th floor halls behind Jasper. He was muttering some tune that we did in our RetroSpot concert on Halloween. He looked at me and smiled brightly.

“Okay, I can’t take this.” I snarled, glaring at him. “What is with you?! The school is nearing turmoil, and you won’t lose that goofy grin on your face!” He just laughed and approached me.

“For Believers, I can’t believe you haven’t realized this yet.” He smirked. “Optimism is the most important thing to have in a crisis, especially when dealing with Hexalians.”

“Is that what you were thinking in the bunker when you started crying?” J-C teased. Jasper shot him a glare, but still smiled.

“Even I have my moments, Jefferson. Now, let’s hurry; this empty hall is making me nervous…” Jasper led us to a door and put his ear against it. He motioned us to step back and pulled the rope off his shoulder. He kicked the door open and rushed inside; we could hear a struggle and shouting before he came back, a broad smirk on his face. We followed him into the room to see that he’d tied one of Trevor’s goons to a chair and shoved him into a corner.

“Okay, kids.” He chuckled, motioning to the wall of security monitors and panels of buttons. “These are the security and electricity controls for this entire building. Monica and Timmy, you two figure out how to disable the locks on the doors, then hit this button.”-- he handed Monica a small box with a red button on it-- “That button signals Janice that it’s safe to evacuate the students. Be very responsible with it. Messing up could jeopardize the entire operation. Timmy, you keep reading that spell I showed you, then both of you meet us outside.”

“Outside? What’s outside?” I asked. Jasper just pat my arm and smiled.

“You kids won’t get away with this.” The Hexalian in the corner snarled at us. Jasper sighed, going over to and retying the scarf tightly over his mouth.

“Don’t poke the hostage, Monica. I know you like pestering people like that.” Monica huffed, glaring at him.

“And keep this door locked until you’re ready to leave.” Jasper said sternly. “Let’s go.” The rest of us followed him out of the security room and around to the stairwell up to the sixth floor. He sat the twins and J-C on the steps, handing the twins two sheets of music. They seemed to understand and stayed on the steps. As he led us upstairs and to the main fire escape door, we started hearing voices.

“I’m glad Trevor gave the order to attack. I’ll get that Jasper kid for tying me up.” A man snarled under his breath. Someone else laughed at the comment as they started coming around the corner.

“Mordecai, up here.” Jasper whispered, patting his shoulder. The yellow kitten jumped up, climbing up his shirt to get onto his shoulder. As the Hexalians came into view and noticed us, Mordecai took a breath, his collar glowing, and small bursts of electricity were launched at the Hexalians. They dropped unconscious, and Jasper smirked.

“Okay, the rest of you.” Jasper said to us. “Keep the Hexalians from getting to the bottom floor. When Monica and Timmy give the signal, the Reynolds sisters will be herding all the kids out. Do what you have to, but make sure they don’t get down there. Also, make sure they don’t get into the security room to stop our two little geniuses.

“What about you?” I asked him.

“I think you mean us.” He said, putting a hand on my shoulder. “We’ll be outside. I’m certain Trevor’s aware of our mischief by now. It’s time to take him on.”

“I take it that means I’m going with you.” I sighed. He smiled and nodded. The others nodded as well and scattered. Jasper nudged me over to the side of the door. He pulled out his hunting knife and cut a slightly concealed string connecting the door to a small box on the wall.

“And that was…?” I asked.

“This door isn’t electrically locked like the others.” Jasper explained. “But if you open it, the string would yank a pin out of that box and make the fire alarm go off. And pulling the fire alarm is a big no-no around here, remember?” I chuckled and nodded as Jasper opened the door and led me outside. We were standing on a ledge with one ladder coming down from the roof and another ladder going down to the ground. The large backyard of the school, as we’ve started calling it, seemed no different than it had been yesterday.

“It doesn’t look Trevor’s done anything out here.” I observed. “You sure this is where we’ll fight him?”

“Oh, I’m sure.” He said, smirking and pulling a stone from his pocket. “It pays to think ahead with these things.”

“Think ahead?” Jasper leaned back and pitched the stone across the yard; as it reached the fence about a few dozen yards away, it bounced off of something invisible, then a wave of purple energy flashed in the air.

“Yes, think ahead…” Jasper chuckled. “I kind of told Trevor to meet us out here to settle this once and for all.” He climbed down the ladder to the grass below.

“You did what?!” I shouted jumping down beside him and snarling.

“Look, man. Fighting Hexalians isn’t like fighting humans; you have to think outside the box. I’m guessing the only reason he agreed to meet us here was because he put this force field up.” I realized that the longer this whole Hexalian thing went on, the less sense it started to make. I figured it’d be best if I just focused on coming up with a fight strategy for dealing with Trevor.

“You’re late…” We heard ominously from above us; We looked up to see Trevor standing behind us, a cool, but cruel smirk on his face. “But, no matter how late you are, it’s good you showed up. I almost thought I’d have to come after you.” He leaned back coolly, a carefree air about him; it seemed different from all the tension we’d been through today.

“So, is this the part where you come to me, begging pathetically for me to let your people go?” he smirked. Jasper chuckled, picking up one foot and leaning back, ending up sitting cross-legged on thin air about 3 feet off the ground.

“Unfortunately, we’re not Moses.” He quipped, copying Trevor’s smirk. “Talking won’t get us out of this one.”

“Oh? You’ve come looking for a fight then? How adorable! I’m fighting a shrimp and his kitten.”

“What’d you call me?!” I snarled, my Fire Mage marks glowing brighter. Jasper reached over and scratched my ears, chuckling.

“Set yourself on ‘simmer’, Fire Mage.” He smiled. “I’ve known Trevor for longer than you think.” Trevor laughed.

“Jasper, I haven’t known you more than the month I’ve been here.”

“What?!” Jasper fell from his levitation, his tailbone probably catching a wicked bruise. Trevor sneered and dug his heels into the ground.

“I think this is what they call a Sucker Punch.” He snapped his fingers and moved his arms in an outward arc, launching a wave of black energy at us. Jasper quickly got to his feet and grabbed my collar, yanking me out of the way. We ran like scared rats over to the chalk wall near the fence, hiding behind it. No one really knows why this big block of concrete is here, but kids have taken to drawing on it at recess. And those drawings always remain until the next rainstorm beats the chalk off with great prejudice.

“I knew there was something wrong with Trevor!” Jasper snarled to himself, leaning on the wall.

“Hey, just because he doesn’t know you, doesn’t mean he’s the one with a problem.” I said.

“The one with-- What are you getting at?!”

“You’re Hexalian, aren’t you?” he stared at me like I was an idiot.

“…And you’re more dense than a month-old dinner roll. What was your first clue? When I could decipher a language that no human understands? Or was it when I started floating with no strings? Maybe it was when I started kicking in doors?!”

“I--” Jasper put a hand over my mouth.

“That’s not important right now. I’ll explain my Hexalian life later. Right now, we need to figure out Trevor’s problem. He’s definitely not right.” I swatted his hand away.

“Let’s start then.” I growled. “How do you know Trevor?” He just sighed and snapped his fingers, a small book appearing in his hand. He gave it to me and put his ear to the wall.

“Skim that. I’ll be right back.” He ran out into the open, and left me to look through the book. I flipped through it uneasily, finding it was full of pictures. They were pictures of a younger Jasper with his father, Trevor, some girl I definitely didn’t know, or his uncle, who he lives with now. One of the pictures was of Jasper giving Trevor a bunch of flowers; Trevor’s eyes were red and I could see a rash on his hand where he held a flower. The picture was captioned: “J’s favorite sitter”… Trevor was Jasper’s babysitter?!

“Travis!!” Jasper called to me. “I could use some help!” I put the album down and looked around the wall. Trevor’s Minion Gloves were dangling Jasper by his ankles in the air, and Trevor had a wicked smirk on his face.

“I’m sure you remember my Minion Frenzy, kitten.” He sneered. “It will make a nice ride for your friend here. Not to mention the part when my minions drop him and crack his skull like an egg.” He laughed in an evil type of way, and I just barely caught a strange change in his eye color; they flashed to a dark purple color before returning to their normal crimson. I blinked; maybe Jasper was on to something about him being messed up. I took the fighting stance Jasper taught me and started the focus technique from the book.

“Aw, you want to fight me, kitten?” Trevor teased, and I held back a rush of rage. “I’ll be sure to go easy on you.” He laughed and snapped his fingers, a few of his Minion Gloves rushing at me. I focused my energy to my hands and let my claws out. As the gloves got close, I swung my claws, streaks of fire trailing from my fingertips and disintegrating the cotton gloves. I saw surprise in Trevor’s eyes as I sighed and reassumed my stance. He scoffed, rushing at me himself. I chuckled and ran off.

“Where are you going?!” I heard Jasper calling after me. I’m sure Jasper had some crazy plan like he always does that probably didn’t involve him getting caught, but since those dice have rolled, I feel I should have a chance to play. I led Trevor up the hill on the far side of the yard, at the top of which was a tree that I hid behind. My friends and I have actually measured this tree, and Timmy estimates that it’s at least 10 feet in diameter; apparently, that means it’s about 30 feet around. I went behind the tree and trained my ears to Trevor’s footsteps through the fallen leaves. I moved opposite his footsteps for a few seconds, then dashed up the tree as silently as I could, my claws digging into the bark. I looked down at Trevor as he slowly walked ‘round the trunk looking for me and sighed, relaxing against a branch. I tried to figure out if I should free Jasper while Trevor was distracted, or try to take him on myself; I admit I got a bit lost in my thoughts, and one of Trevor’s gloves grabbed onto my ankle, trying to yank me off the branch. I wrapped my arms around the branch, my claws digging into it.

“Let me go, Trevor!” I shouted, chewing my lip as another glove started tickling the bottom of my trapped foot. I heard him chuckle.

“Well, it all technicality, I’m not the one holding you.” He teased. “But I am holding your friend Jasper hostage, and I can make things pretty bad for him if you don’t come down.”

“Jasper’s a strong kid.” I huffed, coiling my tail around the branch as more gloves started poking at my sides. “Probably stronger than me…” I cringed as some leaves brushed against my neck and my ears.

“Calm down kid…” I heard a whisper. I looked up to see Jasper kneeling on the tree branch above me, apparently out of Trevor’s sight. He pat my ears and snapped his fingers, a slingshot appearing in his hands. He pulled a yellow ball from his pocket and shot it at Trevor; it burst in a cloud of yellow dust, and the Minion Gloves all vanished.

“Now, let’s go.” Jasper chuckled, jumping out of the tree. I nervously released the tree, landing on my feet and following him as he went over to the playground. As I stepped onto the gravel that surrounds the playground equipment, I was reminded that I was running around barefoot.

“The gravel’s really cold!” I cried out. Jasper laughed.

“Well, it is late November.” He smirked “Don’t be such a baby, kitten.” I huffed as he said that and followed him onto one of the big play-sets. We had two of them in our schoolyard: a castle and a pirate ship. But they both had two slides, monkey bars, and a lot of climbing area and standing room. Jasper and I sat inside the big castle, Jasper looking out the makeshift window while I dusted gravel off my feet.

“So, how are we supposed to beat Trevor if he’s not acting right?” I asked, stretching.

“Well, considering how his eyes change whenever you hit his head or appeal to his evil side, I’d say that he’s possessed by something.” Jasper assessed. “All we have to do is cut its cords and Trevor will be free.”

“And we do that… how, exactly?”

“I’ll think of something…” As Jasper went about his thinking, I realized that I sensed something; and it certainly wasn’t good. I put my hands over my ears as an eerie giggling sound started.

“Hey, Jay?” I said nervously. “Do you hear that?”

“Hear what?” he asked. “Why are you pressing your ears like that?”

“I… I hear a rumbling sound. Kinda like giggling, actually.” Jasper looked a bit shocked.

“Oh… That’s definitely bad…” --he got this “thinking” look; kind of like the one my friends say I get right before I say or do something stupid.-- “They say when the earth starts laughing, her walkers are doomed…” I guess I can see where my friends are coming from…

“What the heck does that mean?” I asked.

“Minion Mine Field.” He said simply. He snapped his fingers and one of my sneakers appeared in his hands. “Watch this.” He tossed it off the play-set.

“Hey, why does it have to be my shoe?” I muttered.

“It’s not like you’re using it.” He snickered. As my shoe hit the ground, a Minion Glove attached to a bony arm appeared out of the ground like in those zombie movies.

“What the--?!” I shouted in horror. Jasper just chuckled.

“And that’s the Minion Mine Field.” He explained. “Another crazy spell Trevor shouldn’t be able to learn.”

“Why can’t he?”

“He’s a Red Eye. Hexalians have all have energy codes, like DNA. Their codes determine everything, their species, their abilities, everything. If you end up with a Red Eye kid, their energy code just isn’t compatible with the Minion Mine Field spell.”

“So, he’s being possessed by something that has compatible energy?”

“Exactly. The only questions now are who and why.”

“Did you see that?” I heard; it was quiet and far away.

“Yeah, I saw it. I think that was Travis’s shoe.” It sounded like J-C and Monica…

“Monica…” I muttered. “I-I heard Monica.”

“Here? Now?” Jasper asked. He climbed up on the castle wall and looked around. “She’s up on the roof with J-C! If they come too close to the ground, they’re in for a wicked laugh attack.”

“What do we do? We can’t go out there either!”

“You just stay here. I’ve got shoes on, so I should be able to hold some ground. I’ll be back, kitten.” He jumped off the wall and took off running.

“Stop calling me kitten!” I shouted after him, sitting on the wall and watching him run across the field. I noticed the Minions weren’t attacking him, and I figured that is was just because he was Hexalian. He got to the base of the fire escape ladder as Monica was climbing down and caught her when she jumped off the ladder. I could hear them talking from where I sat and just managed to make out what they were saying.

“You guys have got to watch your step for a while.” Jasper said to them. “Trevor put a spell on the ground.”

“Yeah, something came up from the ground and grabbed a shoe.” J-C noted, flying above them. “It looked like one of Trevor’s gloves”

“Hey, I thought you had green eyes.” Monica stated, staring at Jasper’s face. He shrugged, looking around. I waved to him, and he looked slightly relieved. Monica’s eyes were full of fear though.

“Travis, look out!” I spun around to see Trevor behind me and didn’t have time to react before he shoved me off the wall, knocking me onto the ground. I could sense the energy in the ground, and there was a lot of it where I was standing; I got a bad feeling…

“Run.” Jasper said, grabbing Monica’s hand and running toward me as Minion Gloves started sprouting like weeds in the yard. I saw the twins jump from the roof and fly low over the yard, the gloves trying to catch them.

“This place could use a lawnmower.” Ray smirked as he grabbed my wrist, pulling me into the air.

“No kidding.” I replied, smiling slightly. Ray flew over the pirate ship play-set and set me down on the deck, landing beside me.

“What happened?” I asked him. “Why are you guys out here so early?”

“Janice and Susan are running the evacuation.” He told me, rubbing his shoulders. “Susan told us you guys couldn’t take Trevor by yourselves, so here we are.” He smiled brightly. Jasper and Monica scrambled onto the deck, and J-C and Riley landed beside them.

“Where are the others?” Jasper asked. Ray and Riley pointed up to the roof. Randy and Elliott were standing up there, Laura clinging to Randy’s back and Keith on Elliott’s shoulder.

“Shall we?” I heard Elliott ask.

“Age before beauty, Bunny Boy.” Randy replied. Elliott rolled his eyes, then let Keith crawl onto his back. He stepped back, then jumped off the roof, landing on top of that wall I mentioned earlier. Randy landed beside him, and they waved at us.

“Guys, hustle!” Jasper called to them as Trevor appeared behind them. Elliott stared down at the field, then looked at Randy.

“You wanna risk it?” he asked nervously. Randy sneered.

“You’re the one with the big feet, Ellie.” He teased. “Last one there is a total wimp.” Randy jumped off the wall and took off running, with Elliott close behind him. Laura and Keith clung tightly to them as they weaved around the Minions’ hands trying to grab them. Trevor chuckled as he watched them; he snapped his fingers, sending out a few Minion Gloves. Two of them tickled Elliott’s sides, making him laugh and trip over his feet. The others snatched Keith off his back, leaving him to suffer the Minions’ tickling on the ground.

“Put me down!” Keith shouted, struggling as they carried him over to Trevor. The young Hexalian smirked, walking out into the grass.

“Would it surprise you if I said they won’t listen to you?” he sneered, poking Keith’s stomach. “Too bad for you kids, considering the rabbit’s situation.” He nodded to Elliott, who was laughing hysterically as the Minions tickled his sides and feet.

“Poor Bunny.” Randy sighed, he and Laura sitting on the deck of the pirate ship with us. “We knew him well.”

“Since you knew him so well, you go get him.” Jasper smirked. Randy chuckled.

“And how do you expect me to do that?”

“At least make an effort. You know how ticklish poor Ellie is.”

“Oh, stuff it; I’ll go.” Monica giggled. Just before she could jump off, a strange whistling rang through the air. Trevor doubled over in pain, holding his ears tightly, and the Minions holding Elliott and Keith released them. Keith ran over to Elliott, trying to pull him to his feet. Britney’s dogs jumped over the fence, their collars glowing as they passed effortlessly through the force field. Britney was climbing down the fire escape as they ran over to meet her. Trevor glared at her, snarling. Minion Gloves swarmed at her like angry hornets, and the dogs barked angrily. Britney grabbed her whistle and blew it again, making Trevor lose his focus again and dispersing the gloves. She and her dogs ran past him and we helped them, along with Elliott and Keith up onto the deck of the ship.

“Way to take one for the team, Bunny Boy!” Randy laughed, slapping Elliott’s shoulder. Elliott smiled brightly, then shoved him off the ship. We couldn’t help laughing as Randy struggled to climb back up. Trevor recovered from his daze and glared at us.

“That does it!” He shouted in a full-blown rage, his eyes turning that scary dark purple and his voice distorting demonically. “No more mercy… You kids don’t seem to want it.” He snapped his fingers, and one Minion Glove appeared beside him. Before I could count to three, it multiplied into two gloves; two became four, and they kept multiplying.

“I have a bad feeling about this…” Jasper murmured, standing on the railing of the ship. “I’ll be back.”

“Where are you going?!” J-C shouted as he jumped down and sprinted across the field back to the building. I was wondering too; Jasper never turned his back to a fight.

“I’ll be back!” he shouted back as he dodged a small cluster of the gloves and jumping up onto the ladder. “Trust me, guys!” He disappeared into the school, slamming the fire escape door. The Minion Gloves couldn’t budge it, even as they continued multiplying, so Trevor turned to us with a broad sneer on his face.

“Looks like we have to fight, guys…” I sighed, rubbing my wrists.

“I hope Timmy’s okay.” Elliott muttered.


	31. Chapter 30

The Believers ducked and weaved around the multiplying gloves. The bursts of flame from Travis’s hands would dispel a few at a time, but they were replaced only seconds later. The swarm drawing closer, the kids were now backed up against the chalk-streaked slab of concrete.

“I don’t think I can manage anymore fire blasts.” Travis mumbled, rubbing his sore wrists. The swarm of white gloves formed a circle around them ominously. Trevor sneered cruelly, his stare piercing them like a knife.

Meanwhile, Jasper sat on a desk in a classroom near the fire escape. Around him sat a class of children of all ages. They’d stayed behind after the Reynolds Sisters had evacuated the building. Timmy was there as well, still nosing through the notebook. He was now mumbling the spell printed on the page he was reading.

“Timmy?” Jasper called, and he looked up. “This isn’t like a spelling test; you need to study a bit faster than that.” Timmy sighed softly, closing the book and getting up.

“Wait.” One of the teenagers said, placing a gloved hand on Timmy’s shoulder. “We should at least try to help these guys, Jasper.”

“I know, I know. I just need to think…” A small girl approached him and tugged his sleeve; she gave him a soft smile, trying to reassure him.

“Don’t worry…” she spoke easily. “We’ll have a ball.” She made a motion with her free hand, and a tennis ball appeared in the palm of her pink glove. A few of the kids, including Jasper, chuckled, and Jasper pat her head. But then his eyes widened, and he took the ball from her.

“That’s it.” He smiled. He jumped off the desk, barking orders like a caffeinated Chihuahua.

“Group A; get to the gym and gather as many tennis balls and dodge balls as you can find. Group B; we’ll need paintball guns. Group C, get your slingshots and we’ll meet back outside the escape.” The kids all pumped their fists in the air, shouting a battle cry before running out of the room. Jasper smiled; he could always count on K-Force for enthusiasm. He grabbed Timmy’s arm, running out of the room to the hall.

“Okay, let’s see if you can get it right.” He stood with his back to the Believer.

“You want me to use the spell on you?!” Timmy asked in shock. Jasper stood there like a stone, and Timmy sighed. He stepped forward, the spell whispering in his mind. The Energy Release points on his hands glowed a dark pink, and he pressed one hand to the back of his head, the other touching the back of his ribcage; Timmy could feel Jasper’s heart racing. He exhaled, letting the energy flow into Jasper’s body. Suddenly, all he could see was white, like a blank, empty room. Before him, a small creature resembling a snake with small wings was blazing with a purplish-black aura. It hissed angrily at him, but Timmy grabbed it roughly and yanked it toward him.

“Ouch…” Jasper winced as Timmy stepped away from him, his hands now coated in the black aura. He clapped his hands together, the aura immediately dispersing. Jasper sighed.

“What happened?” Timmy asked, staring at him. “What was that thing I saw?”

“Whatever you saw was a physical form of an impurity in my soul… T-Thanks, Timmy.” Timmy stared at him curiously as the rest of K-Force returned. Jasper pushed open the fire escape door and the children silently lined up along the fire escape. Trevor was closing in on the Believers, backing them into the chalk wall.

“Ready...” Jasper whispered, raising his hand, so the kids could understand. “Aim…”

“Fire!!” Travis’s ears twitched as Jasper’s voice rang through the air. Immediately, paintballs and dodge balls and tennis balls were raining down on them and Trevor.

“Go! Move!” Travis shouted as the Minion Gloves were distracted; the Believers ducked from under the swarm, and Trevor turned his attention to the congregation of children on the fire escape, his eyes flashing that demonic purple. A sneer of pure evil was on his face as he ordered thousands of Minion Gloves to attack them. The kids shrieked in panic, backing away as much as possible. A blur of black and white passed in front of them though, and all the gloves followed it to the ground.

“Late to the party, aren’t you?!” Jasper called down.

“Don’t start with me, Jasper!” the figure shouted, staggering to her feet. The Minion Gloves pinned her down roughly, soon managing to draw laughter despite her thick clothes.

“Carol?!” Trevor asked in disbelief. Suddenly, he froze in place as Timmy flew up behind him and gripped the back of his head, the other hand touching his back.

There was no white void in Trevor; it was totally black, except for a corner. In that corner was a young man with fearful crimson eyes, backed against a wall of emptiness, and looking toward Timmy for help…

Outside, Trevor’s eyes glowed, and he grabbed Timmy’s collar, yanking the boy off his back. He sneered, summoning the Minion Gloves off of Caroline.

“Guys!” Timmy cried out helplessly, struggling. “I could use some help!”

“Travis, do something!” Jasper and Carol shouted. Without thinking, Travis raised the Radiate Wand and pressed the button; beams of red light arced from the red orb and into each of the Minion Gloves; they glowed with a red aura, and Travis’s eyes glowed as well. Pointing the wand at Trevor, Travis commanded the hijacked Minion Gloves onto him. Trevor stepped back in shock as they grabbed him and forced him onto his knees, his arms held tightly behind his back. He struggled violently as Timmy stepped behind him again, placing his hands in position and casting the spell.

Even in the blackened void, Timmy could use his wings and fly toward the corner where he saw the man. The blackness was close to covering him, but Timmy grabbed onto his arm, flapping his wings faster. Outside, Timmy flew away from Trevor, pulling the young man with him. The demonic creature screamed in agony as its host was separated from it. A dazed Trevor sat nearby, trying to recollect his mind. The mass of purple-blackness moved oddly, then screeched as it lunged toward Trevor again. A blast of red light pierced its center and exploded outward, destroying the demon and shattering the spell on Trevor.


	32. Chapter 31

I shook my head, staring at the Radiate Wand as its glow dimmed. The kids on the roof were cheering like mad, and Jasper jumped down from the fire escape and approached me.

“You did it, Travis!” he praised me, ruffling my hair. I smiled tiredly.

“No.” I sighed. “Timmy got the spirit out of Trevor. Any idiot can shoot something.”

“Yeah, but it takes a marksman to hit.” Timmy praised, smiling. “Don’t be modest, kitten.” I hit him over the head, chuckling. I looked up as Ms. Wayne approached us.

“Not bad for your first real fight, Believers.” She smiled. We were all stunned; we’d almost never seen Ms. Wayne smile. She laughed, and we smiled too. I’ll be honest; we did miss her. She looked past us and chuckled.

“Where does he think he’s going?” she smirked. We turned to see Trevor making a mad dash to the trees. In a blur, Trevor was knocked to the ground. Susan was kneeling on his back, and she turned and waved. We all laughed, approaching them. Trevor looked up at us and sighed. He sat up, grabbing Susan before she could step away.

“What do you want from me?” He asked. Jasper chuckled.

“We just need to ask you some questions.”

“Do we have to?” Randy asked, stretching. “We should probably get home.”

“I don’t trust this guy to be here later. We might as well ask before he skips town.”

“Why Jasper, I’m surprised.” Trevor smirked. “You and I had some great years together; now you don’t trust me?” He had a sneer on his face that showed clearly he was trying to manipulate Jasper.

“No. No, I don’t. First things first, Trevor: When did you get possessed?”

“How would he know?” J-C asked, nudging him. Trevor chuckled.

“Look, I’m not sure when exactly I got possessed, but I know I started losing control somewhere around Halloween night.”

“That’s it?” Jasper asked.

“Yeah, pretty much. It was like being in a cage and watching everything happen.” Jasper sighed and shrugged.

“Oh well.” He huffed. Trevor glanced at Susan and blushed faintly.

“So…” he murmured, but Susan pecked his forehead and got up.

“I’ll call you later.” She chuckled. She ran off and entered the school building. Trevor sat there in a trance, a red glow across his cheeks.

“Think he’s okay?” Randy laughed.

“That’s so sweet.” Timmy smiled. “I’m sure he’ll be just fine.”

It was Thanksgiving night, and everyone was at my house, in the basement.

“You’ve got to believe us!” I shouted at Peter. He just chuckled and ruffled my hair.

“Yeah, sure.” He smirked. “Trevor’s a tickle monster from another planet.” Trevor chuckled nearby, lounging on a beanbag chair.

“Can you believe this kid?” Peter laughed.

“Hey, you have to live with him, man.”

“Trevor, tell the truth!” Keith shouted, tugging his sleeve. Trevor ruffled his hair.

“You’re all in on it, aren’t ya?” he teased. This was probably the situation for every kid in the city from our school. We met up with a few of them in the park, and it was the same story all around: they all tried to tell their parents, but no one believed them. A few of them said that if they could, they’d try to cut class; but there were rumors of a kid who did that and Trevor caught him. No one’s seen him since. Of course, Randy said that Lionel started that rumor and got Vanessa to vouch for him. Peter chuckled and smirked at me.

“Speaking of tickle monsters though…” …I suddenly remembered why I don’t like my brother that much.

“Don’t you dare…” I snarled, unable to resist smiling. He grabbed me and tickled my ribs while I laughed and struggled. Suddenly, he stopped, and then he was collapsed in hysteria, Trevor’s Minion Gloves scratching at his socked feet and his stomach. I snickered, watching him suffer. Trevor smirked.

“Huh. College Boy is ticklish.” He laughed. “Very good to know.”

“I agree.” I giggled, shooing the Minion Gloves away. Peter panted and stared at Trevor, then at me.

“Hey, if I lied all the time; I wouldn’t be better than you.” I teased him, ruffling his hair. He glared at me, then smirked and tickled my stomach.

“Guys, dog-pile on the college punk!” I laughed, curling up. My friends all piled on Peter’s back, effectively pinning him down. Trevor laughed at us, and Susan chuckled. Peter started yelling for help, and my friends’ older siblings were downstairs in an instant. It was total war and chaos, and we loved every second of it. Minion Gloves were floating around too, not really picking a side to attack, and Trevor smiled, chuckling.


	33. Epilogue

Trevor watched all the kids horsing around. It made him wonder a few things: Why torment these humans? It’s true they’ve done some pretty bad things to their planet and each other, but he knew a saying from a very wise friend of his.

“For every one bad thing that one man or one society did to that world, another man or another society has done a dozen good things.” Jasper’s father had once said. It was an interesting phrase, and it always made him think. These people are obviously capable of being perfect, so why aren’t they? Then again, Hexalians are far from perfect as well, so maybe he wasn’t in a place to criticize. But that only made him think harder. Why are Hexalians persecuting these people when they really aren’t so different? It gave him such a headache sometimes.

He sighed, and Susan hugged him softly. Trevor hugged her as well, smiling. Then he laughed and moved away from her as she tickled his sides. He glared playfully at her, and she backed off, giggling contently. Jasper knew Trevor well though, and wasn’t afraid of his evil eyes. He and Susan attacked him again, and Trevor was laughing and struggling until a chime from his pocket begged his attention. Pulling out the odd-looking phone, he checked the caller’s name. Jasper could see the reflection in Trevor's glasses: Leroy K. He stepped back nervously, and Susan moved away from him. Trevor was a bit surprised by the sudden shift in mood and stared at the phone as it rang. He owed these children his life, and once again, he thought about these humans. He sighed and jammed the phone back in his pocket; he didn’t want to be confused right now. Susan smiled brightly and hugged him; he couldn’t even try to hide the blush on his face, but he smiled. It felt good to show mercy; Thanks to him, the Believer kids were safe.

For now anyway…

**Author's Note:**

> Panda's Notes: By the gods, who wrote this trash?
> 
> Oh wait...


End file.
